Our paper examines the content and aspects of improving the system of legal regulation of the activities of tourist organizations in the Russian Federation in conjunction with market changes, the chronology of the adoption of legal norms, as well as their role and influence on the organization of tourist activities. We find that the state's introduction of a sequence of concrete measures was a reaction to manifestations of large-scale crisis phenomena. The action of the introduced measures, first of all, was aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of consumers of tourist services, providing conditions for a more sustainable functioning of the tourism market and levelling the effects of crisis phenomena. As a result, over the last decade, the conditions and technologies of conducting tourist activities, the norms of social responsibility of the main players in the tourism market (tour operators and travel agents) have changed significantly. According to the chronology of key changes, we highlight the stages of development of the tourism market, indicate and describe the events that were catalysts for the changes and caused the crises, as well as justify the need to improve legislation in the field of tourism. According to the results of the analysis of cr isis events taking place at present, we identify the gaps in the current legislation on the regulation of the activities of agency networks and subagents of tour operators. Moreover, we propose some novel directions for improving legislation. The paper employs system analysis, comparative analysis and statistical methods as form of a research analysis.