Contributions of Tourism to the Development of Regions in Russia and Germany. Bashkortostan and Saxony

Abstract

In the last decades the growth of the tourism industry in Russia has slowed down, and its lack of competitiveness has been the topic of various publications. Similarly, the touristic potential of the Republic of Bashkortostan is not exhausted with tourism still making an unsatisfactory contribution to the GRP of the region. Bashkortostan and Saxony are of the same size — in terms of population. Population density, however, is much higher in Saxony. In addition, differing historic roots affect any efforts to develop the touristic potential of Bashkortostan. It is then the goal of this paper to provide recommendations for sustainable tourism with a long-term perspective by analyzing consequences of these facts on the touristic infrastructure, on competitive forces, on the tasks of a tourism-marketing bureau, among others — always in comparison to the situation in Saxony (the case study method). Thus, this comparative analysis helps to restructure tourism in Bashkortostan in a situation with insufficient reliable touristic data. In the conditions of deceleration of global economic growth, depletion of natural resources, it is highly important to secure proper functioning of economic systems by means of using the available potential possibilities and searching for new reserves of economic growth. Tourism has a huge potential of development and can be an additional source of economic growth in Bashkortostan.

Keywords

• tourism
• tourist and recreation potential
• development of sustainable tourism
• competitiveness of travel and tourism industry
• touristic destination
• sustainable tourist potential
• touristic infrastructure
• innovations in tourism
• unique selling propositions
• destination image