Prospects for the development of tourism in the Primorsky Territory. Kosolapov A.B

Introduction

Prospects for the development of tourism in Primorye are formed under the influence of a number of factors: recreational and geographical location (in East Asia, the most dynamic sector of the Asia-Pacific region), the availability of recreational resources, the state of the regulatory framework for international tourism, the level of development of the economy and tourism infrastructure. The inbound tourism market of the Primorsky Territory has a clearly regional character.

The world's tourism business is looking for new territories to build cruise routes. East Asia is becoming one of the promising areas in this regard. In keeping with the principle of showcasing as much variety as possible in one trip, Primorye can attract attention as part of an East Asian cruise itinerary.

An important factor in the formation of a modern tourist and recreational complex in the Primorsky Territory is the introduction of an amendment to Federal Law 184-FZ “On the general principles of organization of legislative (representative) and executive bodies of state power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation” (as amended by Federal Law dated November 15, 2010 No. 296 -FZ), concerning “the creation of favorable conditions for the development of tourism in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.”

The relevance of the topic of this study is that currently the development of the tourism industry in the Primorsky Territory is carried out in accordance with the Concept of the federal target program “Development of domestic and inbound tourism in the Russian Federation (2011 - 2016)”, approved by order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 19 July 2010 No. 1230-r (hereinafter referred to as the FTP) and within the framework of the “Strategy for the socio-economic development of the Primorsky Territory until 2025” adopted by the Administration of the Primorsky Territory.

The purpose of the work is to analyze the prospects for the development of the tourism market in the Russian Federation and in the Primorsky Territory.

The subject of the study is the study and analysis of the tourism market of Primorye.

History of tourism development in Primorsky Krai

The economy of Primorsky Krai has a pronounced natural resource orientation. It remains a raw material appendage of Russia and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Pioneering development of natural resources continues here. Even despite the very low population density, the extensive and exhaustive type of development has led to the degradation of ecosystems over vast areas. At the same time, degradation occurs very quickly - something that only 10-20 years ago seemed familiar and natural (rivers where fish were caught in abundance, taiga, where there was a lot of ginseng, lemongrass, pine nuts, animals, birds, etc. ) suddenly becomes a sweet memory.

This is the result of the general impoverishment of the population, a decrease in government control due to changes in legislation and the connivance of government authorities responsible for the rationality and legality of the use of natural resources. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the population are migrants in the first or second generations, who have not imbibed “with their mother’s milk” a love for the nature of this region. For them, the main criterion for activity is obtaining maximum profit here and now and there are no limiting factors - how the local population will live in a few years, when the consequences of economic activity on ecosystems begin to affect the ecosystem, and what their children and grandchildren will see in this territory in decades. Primorye has no equal among all regions of Russia in the diversity of fauna and flora. This is a consequence of the fact that Primorye on planet Earth is located in an amazing place - at the junction of the largest continent - Eurasia and the largest ocean - the Pacific, in the middle of the distance between the North Pole and the equator.

The main flow of inbound tourism comes from China. The Chinese tourism market is the most dynamic in the world. In 1990, 0.7 million tourists left the country, in 1998 already 4.0 million, in 2000 - 5.6 million people. Spending by Chinese tourists abroad is growing even faster. So in 1990 they left 0.5 billion dollars, in 1999 - 10.9 billion. It should be taken into account that at present the bulk of the tourist flow from China consists of people with high incomes. On average, a Chinese tourist spends $3,114 abroad (1999), which is significantly higher than that of most highly developed countries. Currently, only 0.3% of the Chinese population travels abroad for tourism purposes. But, given the upward trend in household incomes, tourism activity in China will grow very quickly.

The history of world tourism shows that in the initial period of development of outbound tourism, the main tourist flow is directed to nearby countries. For China, Russia is the main tourist destination (not counting Hong Kong and Macau, which are counted separately in statistics, despite their unification with China). For the Chinese, visiting Russia means meeting a different, Western European culture. At the present stage of development of international tourism, ethnocultural changes do not, as before, slow down the development of mass travel, but, on the contrary, stimulate them.

The rapid growth of inbound tourism to the Primorsky Territory from the PRC is already underway: in 1996, 21.5 thousand Chinese visited Primorye, in 2001 - 154.6 thousand. This is facilitated by the favorable transport and geographical position of Primorye relative to the PRC, which distinguishes it favorably among other administrative units of Russia that share a border with China. There are 6 land border crossings along the Russian-Chinese border. The formation of a system of border crossings affected the development of international tourism in both neighboring countries. Thus, the share of Chinese tourists in the structure of inbound tourism in the Primorsky Territory is growing: in 1994 it was 83%, in recent years it has fluctuated between 89.1-94.3%. The share of Primorsky Krai in the all-Russian flow of Chinese tourists also changed from 9% in 1994 to 17-24% in 1998-2000.

In the development of inbound tourism in Primorye, the Chinese direction will continue to dominate in the future. Taking this into account, it is necessary to focus primarily on the Chinese market when developing tourism infrastructure and improving the regional regulatory framework for tourism.

Less than 7% of the inbound flow to Primorye comes from other Asia-Pacific countries. Japan occupies a very modest, although second place after China, in the inbound tourism market of the Primorsky Territory. Japan is one of the three leading countries in world outbound tourism. Although annual growth in departures from Japan has slowed in recent years, overall the country is considered a more dynamic outbound tourism market than the United States and Germany, according to WTO estimates. But Primorye, even despite its favorable recreational and geographical position, cannot count on a significant increase in incoming tourism from Japan. The main reason is the negative image of the region among the Japanese, who extremely value safety and comfort in their travels. In this situation, the tourist flow from Japan to Russia was intercepted by the territory of the Khabarovsk Territory neighboring Primorye. Given the conservatism of the Japanese, one cannot count on a quick change in the situation. In 2001, the Primorsky Territory was visited by about 7.2 thousand tourists from Japan, which is only 4.2% of the incoming flow. In the Khabarovsk Territory, whose recreational and geographical position relative to Japan is worse compared to Primorye, the share of tourists from the Land of the Rising Sun is 33%. Despite its proximity to Japan and the possibility of sea communication, the Primorsky Territory receives only 7% of Japanese tourists coming to Russia. The flow of tourists is not stable: rapid growth (in some years up to 80%) alternates with decline (up to -60%)

An increase in the number of arrivals (most likely insignificant, again - low level of service and safety) can be expected from the Republic of Korea. In the Republic of Korea, outbound tourism is developing at a faster pace than inbound tourism, so the country should be considered as an important potential market for the Primorsky Territory.

Unfortunately, Primorsky Krai does not have transport links with Taiwan. Taiwan has an established outbound tourism market, second only to Japan in terms of spending, but the outbound flow of Taiwanese residents bypasses the territory of Primorye. Political and ideological reasons limit visits to Primorye for potential tourists from the DPRK, despite the presence of railway connections between our countries.

Certain prospects for the development of inbound tourism in Primorye are associated with the Tumangan zone. The project for the development of tourism in the area at the junction of the territories of three states (Russia, China, North Korea) is being carried out under the auspices of the WTO. The main idea of the Project is the creation of circular routes through territories with different natural, cultural and historical features. WTO specialists conduct marketing research, advertising campaigns, and provide recommendations on tourism development for each of the Project countries. From their assessments it follows that for foreign tourists (not only of Asian origin, but also from Europe) Primorye is of interest as a territory slightly modified by man.

It should be noted that the attractiveness of the natural recreational resources of the Primorsky Territory, as a prerequisite for the development of ecological tourism, is exaggerated. There are no unique attractive elements of nature (high waterfalls, geysers, volcanoes, canyons) in the region, unlike Kamchatka or the Kuril Islands. The floristic and faunal diversity of Primorye is unique only on a Russian scale, but is inferior to the subtropics, tropics and equatorial forests, and therefore does not surprise foreign tourists. Marine recreational resources, no matter how rich they may seem, are not comparable to the resource diversity of the equatorial-tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The main advantage of the nature of Primorye is “wildness”. But, firstly, this quality is rapidly transforming, since the best recreational places of Primorye are now intensively disturbed by economic activity (Partizansky Range, basins of the Armu, Kema, Samarga rivers). Secondly, the nature of other territories of the Far East, in particular the main competitor of Primorye - the Khabarovsk Territory, is distinguished by greater virginity, better conditions for fishing and hunting, and therefore has greater tourist attractiveness. Thus, although nature tourism will undoubtedly develop, a massive flow of foreign tourists in this direction cannot be expected.

It should be noted that the largest city in Primorye, Vladivostok, is known in the world as the end point of the longest railway. The creation of a railway tourist route along the Trans-Siberian Railway could significantly increase transit visits to Vladivostok by foreign tourists. A voyage along the Trans-Siberian Railway could be the final element of a trip to Tumangan. The Republic of Korea is showing particular interest in the Trans-Siberian Railway, because improving relations with North Korea and restoring the Trans-Korean railway will allow it to get a direct route through the Trans-Siberian Railway to Russia and European countries.

The first step in implementing the tourism complex development program should be the creation of a modern industry marketing system, which should include the creation of a modern information base, establishing a system for collecting statistical information, putting statistical indicators in order, and a system of questionnaires for collecting information.

It is known from world practice that the economic efficiency of investments in marketing and advertising of services based on it can range from 500 to 1000%.

The recreational potential of the Primorsky Territory is used to an insignificant extent (no more than 10% of the potential according to experts). As such, this potential is not a limiting factor in the development of program tourism. The main attention should be focused on the development of infrastructure that allows a large share of this resource to be involved in economically efficient and socially significant use.

The assessment of recreation and entertainment enterprises leads to the following conclusions:

· In the cost of a tourist product, from 10 to 20% is allocated for these purposes.
· In the nightclub development system it is necessary:
- - development of multifunctional clubs, expansion of venues, use of open areas, recreation areas (so-called chill-out);
- - use of various programs by day of the week, theme evenings, exotic services;
- - differentiation of prices depending on the market segment, days of the week, visiting hours;
- - offer of establishments based on interests (women's clubs, elite private clubs, fashionable modern clubs, etc.);
- - use of club cards.
· In the cinema chain:
- attracting the 3rd age segment by showing old films;
- showing films dubbed in Chinese (Korean, English) in small halls, possibly upon request of tourists.
· In the system of theaters, concert halls, circuses:
- reconstruction of the city circus building;
- using the potential of the Institute of Arts and Theaters to hold urban mass shows;
- development of a tour calendar, attraction of the best theater and concert troupes (great interest is shown in visual art forms - ballet, dance groups);
- promotion of local creative groups in the tourism market, inclusion in the database of tourism resources.

An assessment of the system of excursion and tourist display objects leads to the following conclusions:

· Of the cost of a tourist product, 10-20% is spent on excursion and tourist display. Today's volume of excursion objects allows us to provide a 2- or 3-day tour duration. The task is to bring this duration to the estimated time of 5-6 days.

To increase the efficiency of cultural and economic returns from these objects it is necessary:

- Renovation of the urban historical environment in areas focused on serving tourists.
- Maintaining the federal status of the Historical and Fortification Museum of the Military Fortress, its reconstruction and equipment for tourist and excursion use, clearing the territory of buildings;
- Recreation of the acting performance of the functioning of the territory of the Forts.
- Equipment of viewing platforms.
- Installation of special equipment that allows you to see panoramas of the city at any time of the day;
- Installation of souvenir trays on the territory of sites with urban themes;
- Giving status at the level of entrepreneurial activity to the viewpoint and limiting the possible intended use of the territory of the viewpoint.
- Creation of a national mini-park.
- Creation of a unified accreditation system for guides-translators and tour guides in the Primorsky Territory within the framework of the excursion council (a single accreditation card using the symbols of the Primorsky Territory, adoption of the Regulations on accreditation, Regulations on the responsibilities and qualification requirements for obtaining accreditation).

State management of the complex is based on an outdated model of facility management, outside the process of their effective use. It is necessary to switch to a mechanism for managing industry development projects. The program implementation process is a component of many specific and successfully implemented projects. Creating a mechanism for managing development projects is a necessary condition for achieving program goals. This task is within the direct competence of the authorities. The project management mechanism, taking into account the specifics of each sector of the economy or sphere of social life, assumes:

· Creation of a corporate information and marketing center.
· Creation of regulatory frameworks for the development and implementation of projects.
· A system for training project managers in this area.
· A system of methodological and financial support for the development of business plans for projects.
· A system of competitive selection of projects and their expert assessment.
· A support system for firms and companies taking on the task of implementing projects.
· Assistance in finding investors.

The development of the recreational and tourist complex of the region is one of the priority areas of development provided for by the “Development Strategy of the Primorsky Territory until 2010”. The determination of this development as a priority is associated with the exceptionally favorable geopolitical and geographical position of Primorye, thanks to which the region has significant competitive advantages relative to other regions of Eastern Siberia and the Far East. This provision can provide a wide and stable market for recreational and tourism services provided by regional enterprises in this industry.

Main target program - the creation in the Primorsky Territory of a modern and competitive recreational and tourist complex, providing ample opportunities to meet the needs of Russian and foreign citizens for a variety of tourism services.

This document defines the conditions and mechanisms to achieve this goal, focusing on the following calculated indicators.

Indicative indicators achieving the goal are:

1) Increasing the contribution to the region’s GRP from 3% (about 90 million US dollars) to 6-7% (about 200 million US dollars)
2) Increasing the contribution to the regional budget from 0.5% to 5-6%.
3) Increasing the average duration of tours from 2-3 days to 5-6.
4) Increasing the financial capacity of the entire range of services and goods provided to tourists from 65 US dollars to 150 per tourist day.
5) Increasing the flow of incoming tourists from 500 thousand (2002) to about 1.2 million people per year.

Accordingly, in tasks program includes:

· Expanding the volume and quality of tourism and related services provided - including: in the field of hotel business, in the field of recreation and entertainment, in the excursion field, in the production and sale of souvenirs.
· Wider involvement of the natural potential of the Primorsky Territory in the sphere of recreational and tourism services.
· Development of transport, service and engineering infrastructure of the industry.
· Creation of a modern information and marketing system for servicing the industry.
· Formation of a favorable investment climate for the development of tourism infrastructure in the region.
· Improving the regulatory framework for business activities in the field of tourism.
· Creation of a system for managing development projects in the field of RTK.
· Creation of a modern system of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel.

Timing and stages of implementation - 2004-2005 and until 2010. The first stage (2004-5) includes the following sequence of activities:

1) Approval of the Program by the Legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Territory.
2) Development and adoption of basic legislative and regulatory acts necessary for the effective development of the industry and attracting investments into it.
3) Creation of an information center under the Regional Administration.

Second stage 2005-10 Completion of work on modernizing the material base, creating modern infrastructure, intensifying the construction of facilities.

The plan of main activities for the implementation of the development program for the tourist complex of the Primorsky Territory is given in Table 1.

Expected final results of the Program implementation:

· increasing the volume and variety of recreational and tourism services, forming a modern tourism market in Primorye;
· increasing the contribution of the RTK to the gross regional product and the regional budget;
· stimulating the development of individual sectors of the economy, construction, transport, communications, trade, production of consumer goods;
· creation of new jobs in the tourism sector;
· attracting foreign investment into the regional economy;
· preservation and revival of cultural and natural heritage sites;
· meeting the needs of the population for active and complete recreation.

Table 1

Plan of main activities for the implementation of the development program for the recreational and tourist complex of Primorsky Krai

Event name	Performers		Expected results	Sources and amount of financing

1. Improving the regulatory framework
1.1. Adopt the Primorsky Territory Law "On taxation for enterprises operating in recreational areas"	Tourism Committee		Streamlining taxation, increasing budgetary returns from recreational areas
1.2. Adopt the law of the Primorsky Territory (amend) “On the use of recreational areas and marine waters of the Primorsky Territory.”			Streamlining taxation, increasing budgetary returns from recreational areas.
1.3. Develop and approve standard regulations and agreements with tenants of recreational land	Tourism Committee, Environmental Protection Committee		Redistribution of income from land use in favor of regional and municipal budgets
1.5. Develop and adopt a law (ordinance) “On the accreditation of guides, translators and tour guides in the Primorsky Territory”	Tourism Committee		Ensuring the interests of Primorsky business entities, improving the quality of service, anti-dumping effect. Increasing budget revenues.
1.6. Submit proposals to the Russian Foreign Ministry on lobbying the issue of simplifying the visa regime between Primorye and Japan, Primorye and R. Korea.	Department of International Cooperation		Increase in the flow of tourists (30% - expert assessment)
1.7. Develop and approve the regulation “On the accreditation of travel companies as official agents under the administration of the Primorsky Territory” (Decree of the Governor)	Tourism Committee		Improving the quality of tourism services and the tourist image of Primorye. Increase in budget revenues. Increasing business transparency.
1.8. Develop and adopt the Primorsky Territory Law “On Social Tourism”	Tourism Committee	October 2004	Supporting low-income groups of the population and increasing the off-season occupancy of travel agencies and health resort institutions.	20 million rubles in year
1.9. Development and adoption of the Primorsky Territory Law “On Model Territories”	Tourism Committee		Involvement of the region’s natural and recreational resources in tourism, ensuring the safety of these resources. Increasing industry and budget revenues.
1.10. Submit a proposal to the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce port fees for foreign cruise ships calling at the ports of Primorsky Krai	Tourism Committee		Increase in regional income
1.11. Development and approval of the "Regulations on the activities of specialized family-type accommodation facilities b&b"	Tourism Committee		Expanding the volume of tourist accommodation
2. Improving the RTK management system
2.1. Approve the target program for the development of the RTK of the Primorsky Territory in the Legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Territory	Tourism Committee. TCSR
2.2. Establish a competitive expert commission to examine and promote industry development projects.	Tourism Committee. TCSR
2.3. Promote the establishment of associations in each of the tourism-related industries. (Among hotel and other accommodation enterprises, catering establishments, cultural and recreational institutions, transport sector) Conduct periodic coordination meetings with representatives of associations.	Departments, committees and departments of the administration of the Primorsky Territory, municipalities	2004 All period
2.4. Inspection of excursion routes followed by discussion of the results at a meeting of the information and methodological tourist and excursion Center	Tourism Committee, Tourist Information Center	All period	Prompt assessment of the status, information support for RTC activities
2.5. Conduct competitions for the best tourism enterprise, hotel enterprise, catering enterprise; best route	Committees and departments of the Primorsky Territory administration	All period	Increasing entrepreneurial activity in the field of RTK
2.6. Create tourist offices in China	Tourism Committee, Department of International Cooperation		Ensuring the interests of national travel agencies
2.7. Announce a competition for the development of event tourism scenarios.	Department of Culture, Tourism Committee		Integrated solution and development of the entire RTK system. Expansion of the complex's services market.
2.8.. Become a member of the coordination council “Regions of Russia - Moscow Agreement”.	Tourism Committee		Use of financial and information federal resources
2.9. Include media representatives in the expert competition commission and education coordination council.	Tourism Committee		Increasing the coherence of actions and interests of relevant entities. Increasing the efficiency of all parameters of RTC activities.

3.1. Formation of a register of federal, regional, municipal and private property for objects of the tourism industry and infrastructure and a cadastre of recreational lands	Committee on Tourism, TIG FEB RAS		Streamlining the use of state property, increasing budget revenues	600 thousand rubles
3.2. Participation in tourist exhibitions "Daltour", "Daltour-Expo", "MITT", international exhibitions with a single stand. Creation of a permanent stand.	Tourism Committee,		2000 thousand rubles. in year
3.3. Creation of a tourist information center (TIC) Creation and support of a corresponding website.	FPDI "Primorye", TCSR		Expansion of the tourism services market, growth in industry and budget revenues	1800 thousand rubles.
3.4. Conducting marketing research using developed methods.	Information center	2004-03-30 Entire period	Expansion of the services market
3.5. Conducting primary research of consumers of inbound and domestic tourism, development and implementation of a system for collecting primary information	Information Center	2004 entire period	Expansion of the services market
3.6. Submission of materials to the All-Russian Catalog of Tourist Resources of the Regions.	Tourism Committee		Entering the All-Russian market of tourism services
3.7. Conduct annual familiarization tours for foreign tour operators and journalists	Tourism Committee	All period	Market expansion	200 thousand rubles.
3.8. Publication of the annual bulletin of tourist information and statistics	Tourism Committee		50 thousand rubles.
4. Personnel training
4.1. As part of the School of Project Managers, begin training innovative managers in the field of tourism as an element of the project management system		2004 All period	Formation of a project management system.	500 thousand rubles.
4.2. Create a coordinating council for tourism education.	Tourism Committee. VGUES
4.3. Support of the educational and methodological base of the Head Center for the training and retraining of specialists for the tourism sector. Publishing textbooks. Creation of laboratories, etc.	Tourism Committee. VGUES	All period	Improving the quality of training	1200 thousand rubles in 2004 and 500 thousand last year.
4.5. Approve the work plan of the Head Center	VGUES Committee on Tourism	October 2004	Improvement of personnel qualifications. Creation of a system of continuous education in the industry.

It can be noted that with the advent of market relations in Russia by 2000, the formation of industrial, differentiated, elite tourism took place.

The considered periodization of tourism development in the world is, as noted earlier, conditional; in Russia and in a number of other countries, tourism development does not fit into it.

The development of tourism in its final stages is associated with a number of socio-economic factors:

· an increase in free time in the general time balance of the population;
· growth of public welfare and effective demand for services;
· increasing need for rest and recovery;
· demographic factors;
urbanization and globalization;
· communication and humanitarian factors;
· transformation of traditions, cultures and public consciousness;
· changes in the structure of spiritual values, etc. Let us analyze in more detail some of the given facts.

In September-October 2003, we conducted a study of the tourism services market in the Primorsky Territory.

Objects of research: producers and consumers of the tourism services market.

Boundaries of the study: Primorsky Krai.

The study identified two goals:

Assessment of the competitive environment of tourism industry enterprises;
Identification of preferences of consumers of tourism services in Primorsky Krai.

To achieve these goals, the following were set tasks:

studying some aspects of the activities of industry enterprises;
identifying industry leaders and determining their competitive advantages;
identifying the portrait of the consumer of tourism services;
identifying consumer motivations when choosing a travel company for cooperation;
identifying factors of competitiveness of tourism enterprises;
identifying trends in the development of the tourism industry in Primorsky Krai.

Within the framework of this article, some results obtained in fulfilling both objectives of the study will be presented.

Research methodology
Desk methods:

study of statistical information provided by the Committee on Tourism and Sanatorium Business of the Primorsky Territory and the Primorsky Regional Committee of State Statistics;
studying publications about the Primorsky Territory industry in local media;
study of data obtained as a result of previously conducted studies of the tourism services market.
Study of internal reporting information of leading enterprises in the tourism industry.

Field methods:

Survey of consumers of the tourism services market in Primorsky Krai;
Survey of managers and specialists of enterprises - leaders in the tourism industry of the Primorsky Territory.

Determining the type and size of the sample.

1. Field research of consumers of tourism services.

Sampling type – quota sampling.

Quotas were distributed based on the characteristics of consumption of tourism services identified as a result of an exploratory study conducted by us in 2002 (Fig. 1, 2).

The sample is representative because it complies with the main characteristics and proportions of the general population.

When determining sample size We used an approach based on the use of confidence intervals. The confidence interval level is set to 95%, which corresponds to a standard deviation of 1.96. The probability of the event of interest to us occurring was unknown, so an equal probability approach was used. Thus, the sample size is determined by the following formula:

n = (50*50)/1.96 = 651 (people),

where n is the sample size.

2) Field research of managers and specialists of enterprises - leaders in the tourism industry of the Primorsky Territory.

The type of sample is simple random, the coverage is 85% of enterprises in the tourism industry that are actually engaged in tourism activities and have submitted information about it to the state statistics authorities (100 companies), and the sample included all tourism enterprises that regularly place advertisements in the media.

2. Main results of the study

2.1. Trends in the development of the tourism market in Primorsky Krai

Analysis of secondary data showed that the tourism industry of Primorsky Krai is developing quite dynamically (Fig. 3).

As can be seen from the diagram, since 1991 the number of tourism enterprises in Primorye has increased 47.5 times. The maximum number of tourism enterprises was registered in 1998 (286 firms). But in the same 1998, a crisis occurred in the country, which also affected the tourism industry (about 60% of enterprises were forced to cease their activities). In the last three years of the period under review, the number of tourism enterprises did not have significant changes.

Let us analyze the dynamics of tourist flows in Primorsky Krai for the period from 1995 to 2002.

From 1995 to 1999 The dynamics of both inbound and outbound tourist flows have an abrupt nature, and only in 1999 and 2000 there was a tendency towards an increase in outbound and inbound flows, respectively (Fig. 4). At the same time, over the past four years, the inbound flow has been developing at a faster pace than the outbound flow, which is a good trend. However, in 2001, the growth rate of the incoming flow slowed down significantly and tends to decrease. Over the entire period, there is a predominance of outbound flow over inbound flow by an average of 44%.

By purpose of travel, inbound and outbound flows of Primorsky Krai were distributed as follows.

A significant share (on average about 70% for the analyzed period) in the structure of incoming flows is occupied by trips for the purpose of tourism, which is a very favorable factor for the economy of the region. However, an analysis of travel dynamics shows a downward trend in the share of visits by foreign citizens for the purpose of tourism, which is alarming. In second place in the structure of trips are visits to foreigners for business purposes (about 16%), and until 2000 this figure had a negative trend, and in 2002 there was a sharp increase - 1.5 times compared to 2000. Trips for private purposes occupy an extremely small share (0.1-0.2%) (Fig. 5).

The peculiarities of the geographical location of the Primorsky Territory determine the structure of tourist flows by destination.

The Chinese direction has been and remains a priority in the structure of both inbound and outbound flows (Fig. 6, 7). By the way, China has been one of the five leading countries in the field of international tourism since 1996. Thus, in 2001, this country ranked fifth in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals and income from international tourism. For the Primorsky Territory, China is the main partner and will remain so in the foreseeable future, thanks to its proximity, huge population, and growing openness and living standards of the population.

In the structure of the inbound flow, Japan ranks second after China, the Republic of Korea third, and the United States fourth. Regarding travel, the Republic of Korea is in second place, and Japan is in third.

The dynamics of the number of tourists from different countries who visited Primorsky Krai in 1999-2002 is presented in Table 1.

An analysis of the distribution of international flows by country over time shows that the interest of Chinese citizens in the Primorsky Territory does not wane: their number is constantly increasing, and in 2002 it amounted to 162,301 people, which is twice as much as in 1999.

The dynamics of the flow of Japanese tourists to Primorsky Krai has a spasmodic character. However, in 2002, compared to the base year, the number of Japanese citizens visiting Primorsky Krai increased by 63.6%.

The flow of tourists from the Republic of Korea has a generally positive trend. In 2000, it decreased slightly, but since 2001 there has been an increase, tending to increase.

As for the United States, the flow of citizens of this country approximately doubled every year until 2001, but in 2002 it sharply fell even below the level of the base period. This was probably influenced by the terrorist attack that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001.

Let's consider the trends in the outbound tourist flow of the Primorsky Territory (Table 2).

For coastal residents, countries such as China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Thailand are of greatest interest.

Tourist flows to China and Japan had a positive trend until 2001, but in 2002 there was a slight decrease.

As for the Republic of Korea and Thailand, the dynamics of the number of Russian tourists traveling to these countries is uneven, which indicates unstable tourism ties with these countries.

Among other countries to which Russian tourists traveled, the largest share is occupied by countries such as Singapore, New Zealand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

2.2. Results of a survey of consumers of the tourism services market in Primorsky Krai.

As the study showed, 81.6% of the sample (531 people) used the services of travel companies in the Primorsky Territory, 18.4% (120 people) did not.

Of the 120 people who did not use the services of tourism enterprises, 65.8% were men, 34.2% were women. These respondents were distributed by age categories as follows (Fig. 8):

This part of the respondents consists mainly of people with low incomes (72.5%), as well as people with average and high incomes who regularly make tourist trips to European countries through Moscow tourism enterprises.

Since the objectives of the research include studying the opinions of people who used the services of travel companies in the Primorsky Territory, further analysis is based on a sample of 531 people.

The sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 3.

As the data in Table 3 shows, the largest part of the sample (about 60%) is represented by respondents from 26 to 45 years old. On average, 2% more female consumers were surveyed in each age category than male consumers.

The social composition of the sample is presented in Figure 9.

As shown in Fig. 9, tourist trips are made more often by employees and specialists of commercial firms (52% of the sample), with managers and private entrepreneurs in second place (24%).

Let us analyze the distribution of respondents depending on age, gender and income (Table 4).

Analysis of the data in Table 4 shows that tourist trips are more often made by people with an average income level (47.1% of the sample). Of this group of consumers, the largest shares are females aged 26 - 35 years (7.9% of the sample), males (7.72%) and females (7.34%) aged 36 - 45 years.

As the study showed, 56.7% of the sample (301 respondents) repeatedly used the services of the same company. The remaining respondents either used the services of travel companies once or contacted different travel companies. Among the reasons that prompted consumers to re-use the services of a travel company were the following (Table 5).

From the results obtained on this issue, we can conclude that the most important factors influencing repeat purchase in this market are:

quality parameters of the services provided - 66.4% (satisfactory service, fulfillment of all terms of the contract on the first trip, and hence the emergence of trust in the company);
acceptable price level.

It should be noted that the quality of services in this case is a more important parameter than price.

One of the main objectives of the study was to find out what is most important for consumers when choosing a travel company (by the way, this question was asked both directly to consumers themselves and to specialists of travel companies - the results of a survey of specialists and a comparative analysis of a survey of specialists are presented below).

The results of processing ranked data on consumers are presented in Table 6 (places between criteria are distributed based on the maximum number of consumers who assigned the first three ranks to the criterion).

The table shows that the most important criterion for choosing a travel company is price. In second place is the company’s image (41.6%), which confirms secondary data on the importance of forming a positive image of the company in the eyes of consumers for enterprises operating in the services market in general and tourism in particular. Consumers also include service culture, completeness of services provided and availability of discounts as important selection criteria (38.2%; 37.1%; and 36.5%, respectively).

The identification of factors of competitiveness of travel companies can be helped by analyzing the answers to the question about the negative experience of cooperation between consumers and travel companies (166 respondents had it - 31.3% of the sample). Based on the answers of 166 respondents, we summarize the statistics that they were not satisfied with in cooperation with a travel company (Table 7).

Analysis of the data in Table 7 allows us to conclude that tourism enterprises need to first of all pay attention to the choice of related companies, since consumers’ assessment of the work of the tourism organizing company depends on the work of each of them. Careful implementation of all clauses of the contract is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for ensuring the competitiveness of a tourism enterprise. Another important parameter affecting the competitiveness of a travel agency is qualified personnel. Managers of travel agencies need to pay special attention to the selection and training of employees, because the services of travel agency personnel are one of the components of the tourism product.

One of the questions in the questionnaire was about which country the respondents were going to spend their holidays in 2004. The answers were distributed as follows (Fig. 10).

As the chart shows, the majority of consumers (73%) are planning to spend their holidays abroad. The most popular European countries are France, Italy and Spain; among exotic countries, respondents most often mentioned China, Thailand, Japan and South Korea (Fig. 11, 12).

2.3. Results of a survey of managers and specialists of travel companies.

Table 8 presents the characteristics of the sample.

As the study showed, the travel services market is quite developed. Thus, 68% of enterprises have been operating on the market for more than 4 years, 26% - from 1 to 3 years, 6% - less than 1 year.

In their activities, most tour companies continue to focus on outbound tourism as the most profitable in the current conditions. Thus, the share of enterprises engaged in sending tourists abroad is 86% (of which 58% to China).

However, a number of company managers appreciated the prospects of inbound and domestic tourism and realized the importance of developing these areas for the economy of the region. 49% of enterprises are engaged in domestic tourism, and 58% of sample firms work to receive tourists (of which 22% receive tourists from China).

Regarding the nature of the activities carried out by travel companies, only 5% of industry enterprises are exclusively tour operators, 24% are travel agents, and the majority (71%) combine both tour operator and travel agency activities in various tourist destinations.

Table 9 shows the distribution of respondents by type of activity carried out and developed tourist destinations.

As can be seen from Table 9, travel companies engaged exclusively in tour operator and exclusively travel agency activities give preference to sending tourists abroad, while companies combining tour operator and travel agency activities develop all directions.

Table 10 shows the distribution of tourism enterprises depending on their specialization in a particular tourist destination. The study revealed that 42% of the enterprises included in the sample had specialization.

The data presented in tables 9 and 10 confirm secondary information that currently the most developed tourist destination is outbound tourism, and a very small number of industry enterprises are focused on inbound and domestic tourism. This situation, according to experts, is due to a number of factors, a list of which will be presented below.

We were also interested in the opinions of specialists and managers regarding consumer preferences when choosing a specific company. Most experts are convinced that the most important selection criterion is price (49% of respondents put this criterion in first place, 19% - in second). In second place in terms of importance is the company's image (26% of respondents placed this criterion in first place, 8% in second place and 14% in third place). Third place is occupied by such a criterion as the availability of discounts (27% and 17% of respondents put this criterion in second and third place, respectively). In addition, a very important criterion for choosing consumers, according to industry experts, is service culture (22% of respondents assigned the first three ranks to this criterion).

Thus, travel companies in their activities, according to their managers, pay special attention to the problems of pricing policy and the formation of a positive image in the market.

When asked what travel agencies focus more on in their activities - reducing costs or improving the quality of services - the majority of specialists (92%) noted the second option. In fact, improving the quality parameters of services leads to an increase in their cost. However, company managers believe that the modern tourist is becoming more and more demanding regarding the level of quality of services provided, which poses the task of providing a proper level of service at a competitive price to a tourism enterprise.

Of particular interest to us was the question of what travel companies rely on in competition. The following parameters were proposed as options: low prices, low costs, high service culture, wide range, uniqueness of tourism products, high quality parameters of tours, company image, exclusive relationships with business partners, highly qualified personnel, flexible discount policy, provision of full range of services, the effectiveness of the FOSSTIS system, your own version. Among their competitive advantages, 19% of respondents noted the breadth of assortment, 17% - high service culture, 14% - low prices, 11% each - high qualifications of personnel and the company's image. Experts note that the availability of a wide range is an important criterion when making repeated purchases of tourism services.

We were also interested in the question of whether there is a relationship between the period of existence of a travel agency in the market and its competitive advantage ( table 11).

Analysis of the data in Table 11 shows that “young” firms, in an effort to gain market share, focus on low prices. Specialists of firms with average experience, among their competitive advantages, in addition to price, indicate the presence of discounts; a fairly large percentage of respondents name a high service culture and quality of services, as well as exclusive relationships with partners. Industry “veterans” have their own opinion on this matter. The largest number of travel agency managers believe that to ensure success in this market it is necessary to have a wide range of products. In second and third place in terms of the number of responses are such competitive advantages as a high service culture and the company's image.

The study revealed that all travel agencies have regular customers and use various methods to stimulate repeat purchases (Table 12).

We were interested in the opinions of experts regarding the most successful enterprises in the tourism industry. A small portion of respondents (8%) believe that there are no such companies (though without comment). The remaining specialists were more objective, and based on their answers, four tour companies were identified, whose activities were considered the most effective and will be subject to further analysis regarding success factors (for obvious reasons, we omit the names of these companies).

The opinion of experts regarding the development trends of the tourism industry in the Primorsky Territory is interesting. A significant portion of experts (37%) expressed an opinion about the prospects of this industry. However, the majority of specialists (63%) were pessimistic and responded that there were no positive trends in the development of the tourism industry due to a number of limiting factors (Table 13).

Thus, in general, based on the study of the tourism services market in the Primorsky Territory, the following conclusions can be drawn:

the market, despite a number of constraining factors, is developing quite intensively;
most travel companies, regardless of the nature of their activities, focus on sending Russian tourists abroad;
domestic and inbound tourism is poorly developed;
among tourist destinations, Chinese remains the most developed (both inbound and outbound tourism);
there is intense competition in the market, in which firms mainly use price instruments;
Most companies operating in this market have a long lifespan (more than 4 years). Almost all of these companies have their regular clients and when asked about competition, they mention the same large companies. But there is no fierce competition among them, as they themselves claim, there is cooperation and peaceful coexistence;
firms that have been in the market for less than four years make up a smaller percentage. It is these firms that talk about competition; in addition, the main competitors are most often those that have existed on the market for a long time;
Fierce competition exists only among those firms that have existed on the market for less than 4 years, and firms with extensive experience in the tourism market cannot be their competitors, for them they are only leaders in the tourism market, having the largest percentage of consumers of tourism services.
There are large barriers to entry into the market, which include:
- agreements between large firms on mutual cooperation;
- lack of investment in the tourism industry as a whole, strict taxation;
- complex customs regulation and visa processing;
- licensing problems;
- high prices, difficulties with price regulation;
- financial limitations.
There are 10 leading firms in the market, the main competitive advantages of which are:
- an image developed over a long period of existence in the market;
- breadth of assortment;
- quality of services provided;
- having your own transport.
- mutual support of major tour companies.
The activities of tour companies do not meet consumer expectations.
- Of all consumers who used the services of any tour company, about 50% of respondents returned to the same company again. More than 30% of respondents were dissatisfied with the quality of service provision.
- Reasons that influence repeated cooperation with a tour company: satisfactory service, reasonable prices. Moreover, the service factor is much more significant, because Most respondents still call the prices of our tour companies average (at the same time, our respondents are representatives of the middle and lower class). In addition, the price level for almost all companies is the same, the difference is insignificant and companies that have an established image and a certain number of regular customers have advantages - they can afford discounts and price reductions. In addition, as it turned out using correlation analysis, price is more important for those who buy shopping tours (and this is only trips to China). We are more interested in those who buy vacation or business tours; for them, the completeness of the services in the tour package and the image of the company are more important.
- The most important factors in choosing a tour company for cooperation are prices, the company's image, and service (by service they mean a culture of service and the provision of a full range of services in the tourist package).
- The main disadvantages in the work of travel companies, according to consumers, are: inconsistency in the work of subcontractors; failure of firms to comply with the terms of the contract; organization of tours in general.

Thus, travel companies in the Primorsky Territory pay little attention to issues of competitiveness and do not use marketing approaches in their activities.

The attractiveness of the city of Vladivostok for tourists is determined by its unique geographical position on the map of Russia and the Asia-Pacific countries, its natural features, and also the fact that the city is the closest European city on the route of tourists from the Asia-Pacific region. Vladivostok is the largest Pacific port city in Russia. It has sea access to many Asia-Pacific countries, including China, the USA, Japan, etc. Today, the state of the tourism industry shows insufficient development of urban infrastructure, in particular the hotel business, as well as general purpose. The work of the Vladivostok administration to develop general and tourist infrastructure, along with creating favorable conditions for the city’s population, also aims to transform tourism from outbound to inbound.

In the Primorsky Territory, the level of competition among tourism enterprises is felt especially acutely, since the density of tourism companies in the region is very high. The number of tourism enterprises is estimated differently in different sources. The most complete list of travel agencies includes 271 enterprises. Firms are mainly located in Vladivostok - 86%. The rapid growth in the number of travel companies in the Primorsky Territory ensured mass tourism to border China (mainly shopping tours). This type of tourism accounts for up to 50% of all trips by Russian tourists to China. Due to changes in customs legislation, the tourist flow from Russia to China has been steadily declining over the past two years. Under these conditions, tourism enterprises have significantly changed the range of tour offerings in China. The structure of consumer demand for tourism services provided by the Chinese side is also changing.

Currently, there is a decline in the tourism industry of the Primorsky Territory, considering the statistical data, you should pay attention to the fact that over the past 3 years, the volume of tourist flows to the Primorsky Territory has fallen by 60%. The main negative aspects that are scaring away potential tourists from the Primorsky Territory at this time are the negative image of the region, especially among the Japanese, who extremely value safety and comfort in their travels. Then there are high transport costs associated with both entry into Russia and movement within the country, low level of service at a fairly high cost of services, lack of high-level hotels, and lack of food outlets. As for tourists from China, wealthier Chinese tourists are currently choosing cities such as Moscow and other large Western cities in Russia. In general, China is underestimated as an outbound tourism market. However, the pace of development of outbound tourism in China is amazing. In 1992, 2.9 million tourists left China, in 2003. 20.2 million. Russia, however, takes very few steps towards the flow of tourists rushing towards us, although due to our geographical location we are doomed to close tourist contacts. The number of Chinese tourists arriving in Primorye since 1994 has increased from 30 thousand to 178 thousand people. Russia's share in China's outbound tourist flow is about 5%, which is very small for two giant countries that have one of the longest land borders in the world and long-standing cultural, historical and economic ties.

But, the market for tourism services in Primorye has now partially stabilized, tourism enterprises are striving to normalize their work, although some travel companies have temporarily or permanently stopped working, and the rest have taken active action (updating and expanding their offer, taking up new destinations, domestic tourism) to ensure competitiveness in this area.

Promising tourist markets for the Primorsky Territory are such destinations as the Republic of Korea, Japan, Thailand and China. Most travel companies offer tourist trips to China, since such tours are in great demand among Russian tourists. For 97% of travel agencies in the city of Vladivostok, the main activity is organizing tours to China. But among them there are also travel companies that organize tours and excursion programs both in Russia and in the Primorsky Territory.

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