Melnikova Veronika(student), Melnikova E.I. (a scientific advisor)

South-Russia State University of Economics and Services, Russia

Tourism as an Alternative and Innovative Kind of Tourism during the Global Economic Crisis

Nowadays tourism is one of the most important sectors of the national economy of many countries which supports a decent standard of living and economic well-being of the population often due to the constant stream of foreign tourists. The tourism industry is a significant service sector which like other sectors of the Russian economy needs modern innovative forms and mechanisms of tourist service that is especially urgent in the conditions of the global financial crisis.

This innovation is a peculiar way to compete with other companies. It helps to reduce costs, to reap an extra income, to enhance the tourist company image and to make visitors enthusiastic about the company and its products which lead to the discovery and conquest of new markets. Constant improvement of technology of providing tourist services is the main factor in the successful activity of any company. However, in bad economic times innovation is the instrument to maintain sound positions in the tourist market rather then to occupy the leading ones.

Industrial tourism has become one of the alternative and promising trends during the economic crisis as it offers regular visits to operational companies or non-operational (industrial heritage) companies. Industry is the leading sector in the country’s economy as well as tourism but, regrettably, at the moment Russian enterprises are on the verge of bankruptcy because they lack financial investment to overcome the arrears of wages and restore physical and moral state of fixed assets. Thus, industrial tourism is not only an especially promising marketing instrument which promotes the increase of the domestic streams of tourists and creates the new attractive trend of developing the tourism industry but it also influences the current state of the industrial sector of the economy.

In some cities of Russia industrial tourism is an additional way to attract attention to the brand and stimulate marketing of goods and services of the visited company that is highly important during the global crisis. Besides, visits to operational enterprises offer opportunities for other city companies providing secondary tourist products (hotels, restaurants, shops), transportation services to reap an extra income. Industrial tourism creates opportunities for big companies to generate turnover by selling regular products and attract consumers by their openness and adaptability. As for smaller firms this kind of tourism is a good source of income (the turnover of the souvenir shops located at the points where the tours end is 30% higher than in the shops with similar products in other places).

The exchairman of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry Sergei Shpilko thinks that nowadays industrial tourism in Russia is still exotic, but it begins to «unwind». He considers the demand for industrial tourism for industrial tourism /for company tours to be increasing but the supply is rather poor. Actually, according to experts the demand for visits to some industrial sites is ten times higher than the supply. For instance, to get into the tourist group for visiting the famous Moscow chocolate factory «Rot Front» it is necessary to sign up in a few months in advance and a similar situation is typical for a lot of companies and firms. The increased demand is due to the fact that substantial increase in prices for foreign tours makes consumers pay attention to the advantages of domestic tourism such as local and regional tourism more affordable financially. This kind of tourism will help to meet the requirements of Russian clients in gaining knowledge and recreation.

But it should be noted that industrial tourism as marketing instrument hasn’t been fully formed yet: in Russia there are only some dozens of such companies. At the same time in France alone by 2008 about 1800 companies accepted tourists at their industrial sites which accounted 54,7% of international visitors according to the reports of the World Tourism Organization. The experts think that the market of this kind of tourism is divided into two segments: travel agencies specializing in domestic tourism and as an additional service offering trips to the open enterprises but doing nothing to develop this segment of the market, and tour operators who specialize directly in industrial tourism. According to statistics their number is less numerous.

The factory «Baltika-Rostov» and combine plant «Rostselmash» are example of perspective development of industrial tourism in the Southern Federal District, in particular, in Rostov-on-Don. Tours which give a chance to see exciting moments of the production process have attracted the interest and willingness tour operators to include them in the tourist itinerary. This certainly gave an impetus to the establishment of the city as a center of tourism industry, as well as an opportunity to counteract the current crisis.

The town of Semikarakorsk can also be named the developing centre of industrial tourism because tourist visits to the pottery private company. «Aksinya» are included in almost every tour in Rostov region. Development and conduct of company tours promoted the increase of the stream of visitors in Rostov region, growth of the popularity and interest to the town of Semikarakorsk.

Thus, today industrial tourism which has become the promising innovation during the global financial crisis is the real marketing instrument as well as rapidly developing kind of tourism in the Russian market of tourist products and services.

Литература:

1. Квартальнов В. А. Стратегический менеджмент в туризме / Финансы статистика.- М., 2000. С. 56.

2. [Электронный ресурс]: http://promtur.ru/

3. Газета «Ведомости», № 6 (189), Москва. [Электронный ресурс]: http://www.vedomosti.ru/