Док. географ. н. Беспалова Л.А., док. географ.н. Ивлиева О.В., ст.преп. Скнарина И.И.

Южный Федеральный Университет, Ростов-на-Дону, Россия

Touristic and recreational potential of the Taganrog Gulf area in Rostov Region

The Azov Sea area is the most available sea side holiday in Russia. Families with children, people who are fond of sea side holiday on sandy shallow spits, surfers, water skiers, and kite lovers go to the Azov sea coast to rest from all parts of Russia. The sea coast is a mixture of different landscapes: south-Russian steppes, maritime areas, protected areas of the Don estuary, forestry. Annual schedule of tourists in the recreation places of the Azov Sea in Rostov area includes 160-200 000 people. But this number could be even higher- up to 3 million people per year.

Sanatorium treatment could be developed as well as spa-centers on the Taganrog Gulf coast, because there are fields of sea mud to be greatly exploited. They are mainly silt sulphide deposits of different kinds. The Sea of Azov is rich in hydro resources. Chlorite, sulphide, chlorite- sulphide , hydrocarbonate, hydrocarbonate-sulphide mineral waters can be found here. One of the urgent issues in Rostov region nowadays is the problem of integrated use of the Taganrog Gulf littoral zone. A number of ideas and aims connected with expansion of existing or new recreational or economic sites were offered for the last few years.

According to that the study of touristic- recreational potential of Azov adjacent territory, the estimates of existing touristic use of the area and development of tips (recommendations) on how to optimize the recreational conservancy forms are of great essence.

The coast of the Taganrog Gulf within Rostov Region was explored in 2009-2010; the aim was estimating facilities (infrastructure) of coastal recreation zone, and its effect on natural sites.

Natural conditions of the coast in Rostov Region are absolutely favourable for development of tourism. The exploration of the Azov Sea coast began much later than those of the Black or the Baltic Sea, because it is less interesting from the point of view of landscapes. Starting from the 1970s it changed and especially in the areas adjacent to industrial Azov or Lower Don centers.

The Azov Sea coast in Rostov Region belongs to temperate continental climatic zone, which is rather mild and warm thanks to the sea. The analyses of climatic comforts on the coast in Rostov Region according to two bioclimatic indices- equivalent effective temperature (ET) and pathogenic meteorology index show, that climate of the Azov Sea coast is favourable for tourism and entire holiday since the 3 decade of April till the end of October, and the most comfortable holiday in the area is during three months: June, July and August. During the rest months of spring it’s rather cool there, in winter- the weather is moderately cool and even cold.

A number of favourable days a year practically reach 70%. The Azov Sea is unique because of its shoal waters and sandy bottom. In peak season from May to September waters warm up to 28-32 degrees Celsius. Also a good factor for developing of beach holiday on the Taganrog Gulf coast is warming waters and the surge of the sea inconsiderable in numbers. On the whole, there are 121 days of a little surge of the sea of 3 numbers in scale and water temperature of 17 degrees and higher a year. The best months for swimming are July and August.

Nowadays recreation economy on the coast is represented by small, accidentally formed tourist firms or enterprises; i. e. exploration is from place to place. On the northern coast of the Gulf there are 7 sites of sanatorium-resort complex and camps, and in Taganrog City 5 analogous paces and 15 health centers for children can be found, 4 of which are sanatoriums, they are “Sputnik”, “Salute”, “Krasny Desant” and “Chaika”. Perspective sites for tourism are Petrushina spit and Beglitsa area. On the southern coast recreation zones are the spits Ochakovskaya (39,000 berths), Chemburskaya (16,000 berths), Dolgenkaya (Novomargaritovka settlement, 4,000 berths).

Tremendous cultural and historic potential, original cultural legacy, unique museum complexes of international significance encourage tourism development in this area. There is natural park-reserve “Delta Dona”, which stretches 44,1 hectares, including a top ornithological destination of Russia, a world-wide museum- reserve “Tanais” and historical and cultural sights of such cities and towns like Rostov, Taganrog, Azov, Novocherkassk and Starocherkassk.

The sea coast and prolific climate attract tourists for short and long holidays; invite people to spend their holidays in camps and special children camps. 58,5 % of tourists from other regions of the entire Russian federation (from the Central, Northern-western, Ural parts and from the Far East) and 7 % from abroad came here in 2009. All types of recreation and tourism can be combined in the Azov Area; it becomes interesting for different social groups of people and makes the territory more competitive. To estimate recreation attractiveness of the littoral zone of the Taganrog Gulf the coast were classified due to genetic types and lithodynamic systems.

The following scheme was taken to calculate recreation attractiveness: recreation capacity of beaches, geomorphologic features of beaches (composition of slime, how broad a beach is, how tall a cliff is and anthropogenic pollution of beaches).

According to forecited estimation investigation Pavlo-Ochakovskaya spit and Beglitskaya spit are the most attractive destinations in the area, the second place is going to Chumbukskaya and Kuricha spits, the rest beaches form the third group and are characterized by high cliffs and low quality of beach silt.

The integral index estimation of beaches reflect maximum attractiveness of broad, sandy beaches for recreation and the lowest attractiveness of small beaches tilted to the cliffs. The results obtained on estimation of beach attractiveness and recreational potential of the Taganrog Gulf in Rostov Region can identify top-priority areas for developing tourism on the coast, to which Pavlo-Ochakovskaya spit and beaches of Beglitskaya spit belong.