Financial Condition of the Hotel Infrastructure of the Arctic Zone of Russia and its Determinants

Tourist interest in the Russian Arctic has been growing in recent years. The development of tourism can improve the economic and social well-being of the local population, but it depends largely on the efficiency of key market actors. With this in mind, this paper aims to study the financial condition of Arctic collective accommodation facilities. The purpose of the study is to determine the factors that determine the financial performance of hospitality venues in the municipalities of the Arctic zone of Russia, and to develop a list of recommended measures to improve their efficiency. The hypothesis was the assumption of a larger number and better financial condition of the hospitality venues in those municipalities that enjoy a more favorable climate and economic conditions for corporate activity and that boast prerequisites for cultural and educational, business, domestic and rural tourism. The methodology of the work involves analyzing the data from the accounting statements of the hospitality venues of the Russian Arctic and municipal statistics. The methods of descriptive statistics were used, cluster, correlation and regression analyses were carried out, in particular, panel models of dependencies of the collective accommodation facilities financial indicators on various factors were built. The results of the study showed that the financial condition of the collective accommodation facilities varies across Arctic municipalities and is not related to climate, prerequisites of cultural and recreational and domestic tourism, although these factors affect the number of these organizations. Higher financial results of the collective accommodation facilities in municipalities with a better economic situation are observed, but there is a lower need for tourism as a source of additional income and diversification of activities. The potential for increasing the number and improving the profitability of the collective accommodation facilities by strengthening the prerequisites for business tourism is significantly limited. Theoretical significance has confirmed the heterogeneity and non-stationarity of factors affecting the financial condition of the Arctic collective accommodation facilities. The practical value of the work is due to the formed recommendations for the development of tourism in the Russian Arctic.