Determination and analysis of competitors in developing the region''s tourism strategy
Importance The article deals with the analysis of regions-competitors in strategic planning activities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to promote the development of domestic and inbound tourism. For the past five years, the appropriate bodies have elaborated certain regional policies and targeted programs for the development of tourism, so the study of regions-competitors and their activities is necessary for differentiation of regional tourism product in the process of its formation and positioning. Objectives Our article’s goal is to develop a methodological approach to the identification and analysis of competitors in designing a tourism development strategy in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to develop common approaches and methods of identifying the competitors, offer a way to reduce subjectivity in analysis, form a system of criteria for which the region is considered to be a competitor, to present the results of approbation of author's methodical developments of the work on the development strategy of tourism in the Yaroslavl region until 2025. Methods We selected competitors using a multistage technique based on open sources in the following areas: similarity of tourism specialization and structure of tourist-recreational potential, proximity to the main markets of the tourist product (market of domestic tourism and inbound tourism market), statistics of tourism development, and integration into the most famous Russian tourist product The Golden Ring of Russia. Results We offer a stage-by-stage sequence for the identification and analysis of competitor regions describing the content of research works, ways to define estimation parameters and key analytical methods. Relevance The presented approaches are to some extent universal and can be applied in all industry and research areas.