ИСТИНА

Quite few tourist brands in Russia are known not only at regional level but stand for the image of the whole country. The "Golden Ring of Russia" tourist route is among them. Destinations of the "Golden Ring of Russia" still keep up high tourism and recreational attractiveness. However, the tourist flow here is decreasing and consists of domestic tourists mainly. Due to various factors (geopolitical, infrastructural, social, economic, et al.) this route has undergone a significant transformation in last decades. The whole pattern of the route has changed. The circle route is now replaced by radial (with 2-3 places to visit) or even single-point routes. One can observe the loss of former multi-day route and its transition to 1-2-3-day tours, mainly on weekends. New tourism attractions and new amenities as well as new forms of tourism activities are introduced in this region. Transformed tourism destinations together with the changes in consumers' interests and demands have significantly diversified types of tourism in the Golden Ring towns. If formerly this route was almost exclusively aimed at cultural tourism, now there are ecotourism, leisure, family, business and other types of tourism emerging here. Event tourism is becoming one of the key areas of tourism development in many parts of the Golden Ring of Russia. In general, cultural events dominate; they are followed by sport events and national holidays. Analysis of the current "Golden Ring of Russia" tourism product shows that 1-2-day programs timed to a wide range of events have a steady demand. With the joint efforts of national and local tourism business and management event tourism can become one of the most effective ways for improving the Golden Ring situation.