Tourism development in the Baikal Natural Area (analysis and economic assessment)

Faculty of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

^* Corresponding author: nico.73@mail.ru

Abstract

In 1999, Lake Baikal was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. To implement the requirements of the international status of the lake in Russia, a number of legislative acts have been adopted that significantly changed the socio-economic living conditions of the local population in the Baikal Natural Area (BNA): numerous types of zoning have been introduced, limiting the possibilities of conducting the economic activities, and a stake has been placed on the development of the tourism.The aim of the article is to assess the impact of tourism over the life of the BNA from the perspective of the theory of sustainable development. In the paper: 1) modern socio-economic living conditions of the population over the BNA were analyzed; 2) an economic analysis of the existing tourist flows were conducted; 3) areas of conflict of interests of the tourist business, local population, authorities of different levels and investors were identified. The results presented in the article are based on the field studies conducted in the summer of 2018 in a number of regions of Buryatia (15 interviews were taken with tourism leaders, heads of settlements, eco-activists and local residents and 45 interviews with tourists). It is shown that the policy of limiting the economic activity in the BNA and the stake on mass tourism lead to the degradation of the Baikal nature and do not solve the problems of the financial self-sufficiency of the territory.