ИСТИНА

Our study aims to identify the features of small destinations’ network cooperation based on the case of the Association of Small Tourist Towns of Russia (ASTT). The empirical part of the research is based on a combination of methods, including local authorities’ survey and a set of structured interviews with destinations’ stakeholders. The results of our study show that despite authorities of many ASTT’s cities believe that their networking is aimed at joint marketing activities, in reality, most of the association’s efforts are aimed at lobbying small towns’ interests at federal level. We found strong evidence that participation of a small town in ASTT (inter-destination network) has a positive influence on the willingness of local authorities to develop tourism clusters (intra-destination network).