Conceptual Approaches, Methodological and Economic Tools for Assessing the Functioning and Development of the Urban Tourism Services Market

In the modern world, tourism, as an industry of interconnected sectors, influences the development of specific sectors of the economy and performs social and cultural functions. The article presents the author’s position, based on summaries of existing approaches and considering the paradigms of urbanization theory, that urban spaces today serve as a unifying sphere for various types of tourism, which are viewed as structural components of urban tourism. Based on the research fi ndings, the author provides a unique interpretation of the concepts ‘urban tourism’ and ‘urban tourism services market’, characterizing the urban tourism services market of Novosibirsk by highlighting various types of tourism resources – cultural-historical, architectural, infrastructural, etc.; the necessity for theoretical exploration of specific aspects of the urban tourism services market is argued. In particular, the possibility and necessity of implementing a conceptual economic model for assessing the current state and forecasting the development of the urban tourism services market based on the identification of basic factors of its functioning – demand potential and supply potential – are justified. The role of investment policy in the development of the urban tourism services market and the possibility of using cluster tools to activate demand and stimulate the sale of urban tourism services in the metropolis are outlined.