Practice of classifying tourist clusters (case of Pskov oblast)

Abstract

The series of questions regarding selection a new criterion for assessing the degree of formation of transboundary tourist- recreational regions of different level is considered in the article. The proposed criterion is transboundary tourist cluster which can be regarded as a core of the transboundary tourist-recreational region. The research relies on the scientific developments in the framework of two concepts in geography of tourism and recreation and exactly, the concept of the tourist clusters and the cross-border tourist-recreational regions. The developments experience of classification of tourist clusters based on the available scientific research within this approach is represented in the first part of the research article. The proposed classification relies on such tourist clusters features as their stage of development, tourist dominants, types of developed tourism, administrative and political status and the size of the covered area, location relative to the state border, etc. The existence of the transboundary cluster can show a fairly high degree of formation of specific transboundary tourist-recreational region. The second part of the research represents the results of testing this classification of tourist clusters in Pskov region and also in the adjacent areas of neighboring countries that are the parts of the transboundary Russian-Estonian tourist-recreational regions of different hierarchical level.