General Director of the Institute for Urban Economics Alexander Puzanov on the pros and cons of tourism development for the regions

About the pros and cons of tourism development for the regions, Kommersant was told by the general director of the Institute for Urban Economics Alexander Puzanov.

— Do you think it is necessary to develop tourism in all regions?

– There is definitely nothing wrong with this, another question is how much such development will be possible to implement. We are at the beginning of an era of shortage of personnel, when the generation of the late 1990s and early 2000s, a period of demographic decline, enters the working age. At the same time, a number of priority sectors have emerged, such as IT and the military-industrial complex, which will definitely attract personnel. Automation is taking place in many areas, but in tourism the backlog for it is minimal: the industry is very dependent on human resources. At the same time, the ability to quickly generate a large number of jobs is precisely one of the key advantages of the tourism industry for regional economies.

— But how to develop tourism if it is difficult to find personnel in a number of regions?

– The situation in the regions is different, there are also labor surplus. Now it is practically the entire North Caucasus, where the creation of additional jobs is necessary, even if they are not the highest paid. It is faster to teach a person to work in the tourism industry than a programmer. In addition, attracting tourists improves the image of the region, which in turn creates a favorable environment for investment.

— Are there universal methods for the successful development of tourism infrastructure?

– Unified development plans, as a rule, are ineffective. We saw how such programs were drawn up for the resorts of the North Caucasus, but the degree of their implementation left much to be desired.

Now there is an example of Dagestan, where the growth of the tourist flow is provided not only by the effect of a low base and favorable natural and geographical conditions, but also by local features. The absence of strict urban planning regulation made it possible to increase capacity in a short time to accommodate the flow of guests.

Another example is the Murmansk region, where Chinese beliefs about the beneficial effect of meeting with the northern lights and the popularity of the movie Leviathan among Russians have become factors in the growth of tourism. In Turkey, on the coast, the principles of tourism development are approximately the same, but in Russia, the working conditions, for example, ski resorts vary greatly due to regional specifics. Somewhere roads are required, somewhere there are not enough hotels, trained personnel, somewhere you need to think about routes.

– If the regions where the development of tourism is futile?

– Certain places of attraction can be created everywhere. Even if it is a small industrial city, there is a stream of business trips that can be sent at least to the factory museum. If this is a remote northern territory, we can talk about expensive extreme tourism.

— Are there problems that the development of tourism can exacerbate?

“These are primarily environmental issues. And, of course, tourism, like any point of growth, can be the cause of an increase in social tension. Problems arise when the behavior of tourists does not match the lifestyle of the local population. For example, conflicts can occur in Dagestan, where residents do not always like the clothes or behavior of travelers. In the future, the need for proper management actions will become more acute. We have before our eyes the example of Barcelona, ​​where the development of tourism has led to a sharp jump in real estate prices, to which it turned out to be quite difficult for the authorities to respond.

Interviewed by Alexandra Mertsalova