Tourist potential of the north caucasus regions: statistical analysis[Туристический Потенциал Регионов Северо-Кавказского Федерального Округа: Анализ Статистических Данных]

The purpose of the study is to analyze the development potential, prospects and limitations for domestic tourism, including in the regions of the North Caucasian Federal District. The relevance of the work is related to the fact that domestic tourism is a promising economic sector for many regions in the context of international sanctions. To evaluate the opportunities for the development of the hospitality industry, we have developed a methodology for assessing the tourism potential of Russian regions, which is a scientific novelty of the preprint. The main results of the study were the identification of leading and outsider regions in terms of opportunities for the development of the hospitality industry. According to the data on the tourism potential of the North Caucasian Federal District regions, they individually cannot become significant centers of domestic tourism (primarily due to the small size of the regions themselves). However, when adjusted for population size and area, the North Caucasian republics demonstrate that they have a significant tourism potential, and the development of the hospitality industry is a promising direction for them (especially since the development potential, judging by the low demand indicators, is not fully realized). The main conclusion of the paper is that there are two groups of regions in the North Caucasian Federal District. The regions of the first group (Stavropol Krai, KBR and KCR) had a developed hospitality industry before the pandemic, their tourism resources reserves are at an average level, and their current tourist demand is equal to their tourism potential. The second group includes North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan, which have a well-built regional brand and an abundance of attractions, but they lack hotels and restaurants, as well as investments into the industry, and as a result, the tourism potential remains unrealized in practice.