The main aspects of involving the population of the region in ecological tourism (The case of Belgorod region)

Improving the effectiveness of the ecotourism development is a significant task of regional development today. In world practice, ecological tourism is understood as responsible travel across the territory of a particular ecotourist destination, which gives an idea of its natural and cultural-ethnographic features, does not violate the integrity of ecosystems and contributes to the well-being of the local population. The development of ecological tourism in Belgorod region will lead to the achievement of socio-cultural, infrastructural, environmental and financial-economic effects. To investigate consumer preferences and consider the index of involvement in ecotourism at the regional level the authors conducted a survey among residents of Belgorod region, reflecting its results in the article. The problems of state regulation of the ecotourism development include the insufficient level of identification of this concept, the insufficient development of ecotourism classifications, the absence of a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of its development, the imperfection of the regulating mechanism for the ecotourism development in the Russian Federation.Originally published in https://ruservices.rgutspubl.org/index.php/1/article/view/23