The study of elasticity in the structure of tourism indicators in the Russian Federation

Subject. The article discusses the structure and dynamics of tourism indicators in the Russian Federation. Objectives. The aims are to determine the role and importance of the tourism sector for the country and the region, its impact on the development of the State, economic and social spheres, to characterize the current status of the tourism sector in the Russian Federation and its regions, and identify groups of regions that allow analysis of indicators in the tourism sector. Methods. The study employed general scientific research methods, and the cluster analysis to consider the elasticity in the structure of tourism indicators. Results. I calculated specific weights of indicators of the activity structure of travel companies, namely, the number of tour packages sold to the population, integral coefficients of structural differences in the indicators, the growth rates of indicators characterizing the tourism sector. Federal districts and their regions were divided into groups, using cluster analysis methods. The paper unveils structural shifts in relative values in the same data set and changes in the Russian tourism industry during the period under investigation. Conclusions. The findings may be of interest to specialists in the field of tourism economics, regional economics and management, and serve as a basis for development of measures to promote domestic tourism in Russia.