Revista de Investigaciones Universidad del Quindío,

34(S3), 186-197; 2022.

ISSN: 1794-631X e-ISSN: 2500-5782


Esta obra está bajo una licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional.


MECHANISMS AND TOOLS OF DOMESTIC AMATEUR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT


MECANISMOS Y HERRAMIENTAS DE DESARROLLO DEL TURISMO AMATEUR NACIONAL



Lyudmila A. Gladkova1*; Dariya V. Tropina2; Aida Z. Ismailova3; Svetlana N. Loktionova4;

Mark A. Gladkov5

1. Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia. lgladkova@rgau-msha.ru

2. Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia. tropina@rgau-msha.ru

3. Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia. kabis81@gmail.com

4. Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia. semalog@rambler.ru

5. Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, Moscow, Russia. markgladkov1@gmail.com


*corresponding author: Lyudmila A. Gladkova, lgladkova@rgau-msha.ru



ABSTRACT


Today’s Russian market of tourist services is very diverse and demonstrates, according to experts, very positive development trends. However, neither natural nor cultural sites alone do not make a region attractive to tourists. Unfortunately, the level of tourist services leaves much to be desired, and where it is high, the price is above the average, since with restrictions on travel abroad the people have not many alternatives. The creation of an interaction model for all the participants of the travel market based on User Agreement and, as a consequence, the creation of communicative tools, such as mobile applications and phone calls, is the aim of the current research. The methodology is based on a set of methods, including analogy, comparison, programming, and modeling. Given the results, a new approach to promoting rural tourism will not only attract funds to small towns and villages but also contribute to the development of recreational systems and make traveling in Russia comfortable for both domestic and foreign tourists.


Keywords: amateur tourism; information technology; communicative environment; tourist services aggregator; innovation.


RESUMEN


El mercado ruso actual de servicios turísticos es muy diverso y demuestra, según los expertos, tendencias de desarrollo muy positivas. Sin embargo, ni los sitios naturales ni los culturales por sí solos no hacen que una región sea atractiva para los turistas. Desafortunadamente, el nivel de los servicios turísticos deja mucho que desear, y donde es alto, el precio está por encima del promedio, ya que con las restricciones para viajar al exterior la gente no tiene muchas alternativas. La creación de un modelo de interacción para todos los participantes del mercado de viajes basado en el Acuerdo de Usuario y, en consecuencia, la creación de herramientas comunicativas, como aplicaciones móviles y llamadas telefónicas, es el objetivo de la presente investigación. La metodología se basa en un conjunto de métodos, que incluyen analogía, comparación, programación y modelado. Dados los resultados, un nuevo enfoque para promover el turismo rural no solo atraerá fondos a las pequeñas ciudades y pueblos, sino que también contribuirá al desarrollo de sistemas recreativos y hará que viajar en Rusia sea cómodo para los turistas nacionales y extranjeros.


Palabras clave: turismo amateur; tecnologías de la información; entorno comunicativo; agregador de servicios turísticos; innovación.


INTRODUCTION


Nowadays, during the pandemic, tourism has become one of the most acute and urgent topics due to the fact that it is not safe to travel neither inside the country, nor abroad. Coronaviruses mutate and the restrictions are being tightened, but, on the other hand, after the end of summer 2020 tourist season, the choice of destinations and recreation facilities has changed (Kryukova & Khetagurova, 2019). Today's tourists are reluctant to visit overcrowded popular resorts, and tend to find secluded places with minimal traffic, that can provide a real recreation.


The recent increase in the number of various aggregators and mobile applications that allow collecting a large amount of information on tourist sites and destinations, has led to a boom in independent travel: auto tourism, caravanning, sport and just amateur tourism, without tour operators and any other support (Sheresheva et al., 2021). The serious epidemiological situation developed in 2020 intensified this process, and today the re-examining of the approach to the tourism development has become acute (Litvinenko et al., 2019).


The decline in household earnings and the high cost of tourism products, even for domestic tours, causes the population to refuse travelling at the prices offered by Russian tourism companies, and to choose amateur tourism. The tourism market must be ready to this situation and use it for the development of rural tourism, combining the efforts of public authorities and centers of competence, including tourist services (Zolotovskiy et al., 2019).


In the experience of many foreign countries the increasing number of independent travelers doesn’t reduce the revenues of the tourism sector, but merely leads to their redistribution.


According to sociological surveys, 75% of the UK active population spends the holidays out of their area of residence, most of them traveling within the country (about 25 million tourists). Domestic tourists prefer to move in private vehicles and stay in small hotels, campings located by the sea, with relatives and acquaintances; 15% of travelers rent rooms from boarding houses. To book rooms in hotels the municipal sites are often used (Avtsinova et al., 2021).


Germany is one of the leading countries in terms of domestic tourism: in 2018, the share of domestic tourists’ overnight stays amounted to 82% (Kryukova et al., 2018). It has to be noted that, according to Statista ‘s Global Consumer Survey (GCS), the majority of polled Germans preferred outing on the sea (particularly, in Mecklenburg – western Pomerania, where prices, as well as salaries, are lowest in the country). However, in 2020 an obvious increase has been marked in Google search queries “hiking” and “bicycle tour”, indicating a growing demand for holidaying in nature and in rural areas (Pogrebova & Glinkina, 2020). This is not surprising, since in 2017 the Federal ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) started the project “The Destination as a Stage: How can Cultural Tourism Make Rural Areas Successful?” aimed at developing tourism in 5 rural regions to send a positive signal to other regions. The key instrument for implementing the rural development policies is The Joint Federal Government-Länder Scheme for Improving Regional Economic Structure (GRW) which implies strong and effective relationships between local and federal authorities (Zolotovskiy et al., 2019).


In Italy, the share of non-hotel arrivals is growing exponentially after the 2020 lockdown period. Thus, in April 2020, there were only 41,000 arrivals of Italian tourists, and in July 2020 the number of domestic tourists in non-hotel sector increased to 2,2 million (Monthly number of domestic tourist arrivals in non-hotel accommodations in Italy from March 2019 to July 2020). 145,307 domestic trips were registered in 2018, against 93,229 international arrivals. The tourism is a well developed sector of Italian economy, and even small villages are not off tourist tracks. The OECD states that 5 568 Italian municipalities with a population of less than 5 000 (Borghi villages) give job to 51 000 accommodation businesses and host over 21 million tourists a year. However, there is a huge problem in the development of domestic tourism in Italy, that of “ghost” tourists, persons preferring personal B&B (bed and breakfast) accommodations in private sector. Italians rent rooms in non-hotel sectors for the reasons of comfort, family welcome, purposes of economy being the most important. The majority of non-hotel activities stay unauthorized: there are about 24,000 offers of accommodation in Rome on Airbnb website, versus 8,000 authorized by the municipality (Alessia Fravolini. Non-hotel tourism in Italy).


This demonstrates, in particular, the popularity of amateur tourism, which has significantly grown since the onset of COVID pandemic. In France, the first visited country in the world, domestic tourists’s spendings represent 5% of GDP versus 2,5% of non-resident’s contribution (Lysikov & Polukhina, 2020). In 2007, most of the country’s residents preferred non-commercial accommodations (family, friends) to commercial ones (68% and 32% of all stays respectively). Nowadays, the campings and glampings are gaining popularity: according to INSEE (French National Statistic Service) data , in 2018 -2019 hotel sector lost their clients, while the number of residents preferring camping and glamping gained 2,4% and 2,5% in 2018 and 2019 respectively). In fact, this type of leisure is the most popular in France. in terms of overnight stays reports that France is one of the top 3 European countries in the number of campsites proposals on the internet. It has to be noted that almost each of French municipalities has its own website with comprehensive tourist information. In an attempt to systemize different data that could be of interest for domestic tourists, French government created the national platform DATA tourism, which aims to help travelers find tourist attractions, interesting routes, local events and activities to participate in (Amriddinova & Tursunqulov, 2018).


The world experience of implementing information and communication technologies in travelers’ life was the subject of an extensive market research conducted by the Danish company Sojern, one of the largest digital marketing companies in the world. According to their survey, in 2019 more than 1.3 billion people (every third Internet user) has booked or purchased services of accommodation, catering, transportation through different websites (booking.com, viator.com, tripadvisor.com, airbnb.com). Only in the United States, the turnover of independent online booking services amounts to about $ 13.3 billion (Morozov & Morozova, 2018).


The purpose of the current study is to develop and suggest effective tools for organizing travel for amateur tourists by creating a system for supporting tourism in rural areas at the municipal or regional level.


MATERIALS AND METHODS


Our research is based on a set of methods including analogy, comparison, programming and modeling. The ministerial program "Analytical and information support for the integrated development of rural areas", included in State Program "Comprehensive Development of Rural Areas" (State program «Comprehensive rural development») and the "Tourism development strategy of the Russian Federation for the period to 2035" seems to be an appropriate base for the formation of the Interaction Model (Targeted program «Analytical and information support to comprehensive rural development»).


The ministerial programme is aimed at creating an information system providing data, in particular, on the alternative employment opportunities for the rural population, including in rural tourism.


The information consulting system represents a group of enterprises based on various forms of ownership and legal forms that provide information and consulting services to the residents of rural areas. These are the so-called Competence Centers, consulting the population on the measures of state support for small businesses in the agro-industrial complex. At the same time, creation of companies providing services in the field of rural tourism can be considered as one of the prospect directions for small businesses development.


This system would be established as part of the "Master plan for the development of tourism area" set out in the " Tourism development strategy of the Russian Federation for the period to 2035", developed for each region or municipality (depending on the quantity or uniqueness of tourism facilities), including accommodation, tourist infrastructure. An important condition for implementing this "master plan" is the development of tourist areas (Kuklina et al., 2021).


The interaction between the tourist service and the tourist can be accomplished in two ways: by telephone or through a mobile application.


The elements forming the core of a mobile application may in fact reflect the structure of the "master plan", but also offer broader information. In particular, this application should be based on a guide displaying tourist objects and route options on a map, suggesting various ways (on foot, bicycle, car, boat, etc.) of moving from one location to another and indicating the approximate time to be spent. The development of a guidebook is an important and painstaking work forming a marketing strategy for the development of rural tourism in view of tourist opportunities of the region.


Meanwhile, it is important to keep in mind the development of ethnocultural and ethnographic tourism and their many directions. It should be remembered that a guidebook is a visiting card of the region, and it is important to provide its high quality, involving, in particular, advertising professionals.


Other application elements are the following objects: housing, general infrastructure, catering, public transport infrastructure and its timetable (Figure 1).


Figure 1. Interaction model


Accommodation facilities in rural areas (hotels, sanatoriums, houses, recreation centers, etc.) should be represented directly or via Avito.ru website, since the population often uses it for the rental of housing. When it comes to the inexpensive accommodation, which is important for many tourists traveling on their own, this service has no alternatives in today’s Russia if the landlord is the owner of the property.


An independent traveler has to know about the social infrastructure facilities (hospitals, banks, pharmacies, bus stations, airports, ports, railway stations) allowing to make the trip safe and comfortable. The Application should demonstrate these facilities on the map and within the route selected.


Catering facilities belong to the social infrastructure, playing as significant role as accommodation facilities. It is reasonable to use the experience of existing services and provide complete information on restaurants, cafes, bars, canteens, linking them to the map, but ensuring the possibility to give feedback.


Since not all tourists travel by private vehicles, the public transport schedule will help to optimally arrange the logistics of travel along tourist routes.


The common format of the application can be developed for all regions so that having downloaded it, a tourist may periodically upload the maps of different regions, moving from one area to another, modeled on the navigator "Maps.me", but instead of common maps, the complete travel information package should be offered to download.


The telephone line is an important part of the Interaction Model providing advice within the application. This practice of providing services has been used for a long time, for example, as a part of "Concierge service" in premium packages for banks' clients. In our opinion, it is reasonable to use this practice in travel service, but at a higher cost than the cost of a mobile application. However, the telephone line should not be considered a premium service, since the purpose of its creation is to expand the ability to travel independently for retirees. This category of tourists does not always have the desire or opportunity to use mobile applications and prefers to call.


Therefore, the cost of the service must be adequate, it can be included in the cost of other services received (tickets, rent) and virtually return to the rural tourist service as distribution fees.


The cost of mobile application services is determined by the Competence Center, since it has the right to provide paid services, but there are various functional limitations (most of these services are related to consultations and assistance in obtaining state support for agricultural producers) and the capacity to engage specialized organizations and professionals are also limited. The share of third-party services must not exceed 50% of the total volume of services provided in the current financial year (Performance standard for competence centers in the field of agricultural cooperation and support to farmers).


It would be advisable to set the mobile application price depending on the chosen period of time (a week, a month, etc.) after one day free testing. The mobile application should not cost high, for example, 200 rubles per week, since all the expenses of an "amateur" tourist will be invested in the economy of the area where he travels.

The formalization of the interaction model in terms of rights and duties of mobile application (website) owners and end users, their responsibilities to each other and third parties liabilities, as well as the procedure for using the functionality and the content of the application should be determined by the user agreement, which is an intermediate result of the research at this stage.


RESULTS


In fact, the user agreement is a contract of adhesion, as the user accepts all the conditions specified in the agreement without the possibility to introduce changes. The conditions are determined by the application (website) owner in a standard form and are available through the mobile application or website. In our opinion, the legal constructions should use the simple and accessible language, and the whole document should be brief and clear, and have a user-friendly presentation.


First, the status of the document is to be determined indicating that this agreement is a public offer in accordance with Art. 437 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; it is addressed to individuals and contains the general terms of website’s (application’s) use (Khorosheva, 2019). Then a list of the main terms used in the agreement should be provided, containing such definitions as "Administration: employees authorized to manage the site (mobile application) and process personal data", "User: any individual using the website (mobile application) and thus being a party to the Agreement "," Personal data : any information directly or indirectly related to the Users of the website (mobile application)", "Processing of personal data": a set of actions performed with personal data, including collection, systematization, accumulation, storage, updating, transfer and deletion of personal information "," Service "- services provided on the Internet through the official website (mobile application), designed to provide information on the route, rental housing, transport timetables, catering facilities and infrastructure, booking options, etc. "


A very important point is to state that the start of using the website (mobile application) shall be the confirmation of user's consent with the terms and conditions of the agreement. It is also worth pointing out that the agreement can be changed and / or supplemented by the administration unilaterally. At the same time, the continued use of the website (mobile application) after making changes and / or additions to this agreement means the user's consent to such changes and / or additions and therefore, the user undertakes to regularly monitor changes in the relevant section. By agreeing to the terms of the agreement, the user confirms his legal capacity, the accuracy of his/her personal data and assumes full responsibility for their accuracy, completeness and reliability. Based on the Federal Law of 27.07.2006 No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data", the administration processes the personal data of registered users in compliance with the principles and rules for processing and protecting personal data (Anna et al., 2020). In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the user confirms his /her consent to the processing of his /her personal data provided during registration. It is necessary to provide for the possibility of sending information about the operation of the service, advertising, informational and other messages to the user's e-mail address or phone number. In addition, it is worth pointing out that the administration has the right to restrict access to the service, delete the account and related data if the user violates the terms of the agreement, as well as the right to delete / edit content at its discretion, refuse registration, block, limit functionality on the service without explanation of the reasons.


It is necessary to provide for the opportunity to send information about service operation, advertising, informational and other messages to the user. In addition, it is worth pointing out that the administration has the right to restrict access to the service, delete the user’s account and related data in case of violation by the user of terms set by the agreement, as well as the right to delete / edit content, refuse registration, block, restrict the functionality of the service without explanation.


Next, the setion dedicated to the subject of the agreement should follow. The subject, in our opinion, is the access to the reference information contained in the application/website and related to the route chosen by the user, as well as booking, pre-ordering and appointment opportunities. The following services should be available to the User:


It is also necessary to indicate that the agreement covers all services available at a particular moment, as well as any subsequent modifications and additional services that will appear in the future.


The next section of the agreement should be devoted to the User’s rights and obligations. In addition to the above rights related to the subject of the contract, it should be indicated that the user has the right to ask any questions related to the services in various ways (on the forum, by e-mail indicated in the relevant section, through comments on the website /mobile application, or by calling the support service). The service should be used only for personal purposes, and commercial use should be possible only with the application/website owner’s consent.


The user’s obligations should include the following:


Finally, it should be noted that all possible disputes arising out of the agreement or related to it are to be settled in conformity with the legislation in force. The user gives his /her voluntary consent to provide his/her personal data to the Administration, as well as to their storage and processing in accordance with the privacy policy published on the website or in the application. The user also gives voluntary consent to receive information, including e-mail newsletters, from the service by registering or leaving his/her e-mail address in the newsletter subscription. In case of violation of the agreement the administration reserves the right to block to block the User.


DISCUSSION


The interaction model was developed in the framework of a scientific project for the development of rural areas using special instruments of government regulation, implemented through various targeted programs and the Tourism Development Strategy.


This interaction can be carried out mainly through mobile application and telephone based on a user agreement.


The table 1 presents an analysis of the most popular travel aggregators on the Russian market. Each of the aggregators under consideration offers certain set of services to be ordered, which allows a potential consumer to quickly select the service required.


On the one hand, it may seem that the mobile application we developed is a copy of certain aggregators’ work, but this is not the case. Firstly, we do not set the objective of developing an absolutely unique "Service" in terms of information technologies; we rather seek to adapt existing developments in order to ensure their effective application.


Table 1. Comparison of services provided by top tour aggregators and marketplaces

Service

Transport

Accomodation

Online insurance

Visa service

Tours and excursions

Entertainment

Location information

Emergency services

Navigation (maps)

Air

Rail

Road

Collective

Private sector

Booking

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

Tripadvisor

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

LevelTraval

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

Travelata

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

OneTwoTrip

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+


As the analysis of tour aggregators services shows, they are all aimed at demonstrating the existing tourist sites and already popular tourist locations; the sites rankings are formed both by promoting them and by giving an independent assessment. For example, Tripadvisor, one of the most popular tour aggregators, covers a fairly wide range of travel destinations: hotels, entertainment, restaurants, flights and travel forums, places of interest, museums linked to a map. It operates in 49 countries in 23 languages and services over 450 million visitors monthly. (https://www.sojern.com) But this aggregator works only with already well-known, proven tourist sites and locations. If we put, for example, "Rognedino" in the search field of Tripadvisor website, there will be no result, because the place is not popular and there is nothing to offer for travelers. Although the history of this village goes back to 985 and begins with a fabulous legend about the exile of Rogneda from Kyiv and her long presence in this village.


The situation is similar in the Booking service, which also has a travel guide, but it only works for popular locations. Moreover, both aggregators of services only determine the location, but do not give the opportunity to plan a route, moreover, there is no opportunity to see the ways of moving and the location of infrastructure facilities. For these purposes 2 additional services are required: Rome2rio (transport timetables all over the world) and Maps.me - a navigator showing gas stations, hospitals, shops, banks and other objects necessary for a tourist. There are also some popular websites for booking not only hotels, but also apartments and rooms: Airbnb, TVIL, Avito. In general, more than 50 diverse services are offered to tourists today, most of which are foreign companies.


Thus, in order to travel independently, a tourist has to download a huge number of applications, to get used to them, which is not comfortable for everyone.


In 2020, Rosturizm created a mobile application for domestic tourism called TopTripTip, which is a visual guide to the regions, including creation of routes, showing attractions, events, weather forecast, and an offline map. The first version of this application includes data on 28 regions of Russia; other regions should follow this example as well.


CONCLUSION


The idea we propose does not call for abandoning everything that has already been created, but by combining the existing experience, technologies and other developments to create a universal service that takes into account the characteristics of rural areas, with the prospect of developing recreational systems for rural tourism.


It is reasonable to divide scientific and practical work on this topic into following phases:

  1. Formation of an interaction model and development of a user agreement between a tourist and a rural tourism services provider
  2. Organization of rural tourism service;
  3. Creation end launch of a mobile application;
  4. Gathering empirical data on the effectiveness of the interaction model.


Conclusion


The proposed interaction model allows for the following:


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