Assessment of the conditions and factors of increasing the environmental friendliness of the tourist product of the domestic and world tourism industry

Abstract

The conditions and factors motivating the practice of green tourism, as well as difficulties and obstacles along the way, are formed both on the demand side of the tourist product and on the supply side. The task of analyzing the views, expectations and fears of tourists related to the experience of sustainable tourism and comparing them with the challenges in the socio-environmental responsibility of the tourism business is urgent. An increasingly significant factor driving the transition to the principles of sustainable tourism is the high level of priority of the value of nature in the system of personal preferences of the top management and owners of enterprises of the hospitality industry, caused, among other things, by the growing general concern of the population about the environmental safety of modern and future generations, as well as the aggravated problems of overtourism. An assessment of the dynamics of demand for a green tourist product, an analysis of the processes taking place in the hospitality industry, made it possible to identify factors, tools and mechanisms that stimulate the development of responsible and sustainable tourism in conditions of massive expansion of resorts to adjacent natural territories. The most relevant directions and tools for increasing the competitive advantages of green enterprises of the hospitality industry were identified and justified in modern conditions: education (formation of knowledge and understanding among travelers about the negative impact of brown technologies and about possible ways and conditions of its minimization), confirmation of the actual environmental friendliness of tourist enterprise services (primarily through certification), effective information about the environmental friendliness of the tourist product. The information obtained can become a scientific and informational basis for the development of strategies and programs for sustainable tourism development at the federal, regional and local levels, the formation of marketing and production strategies and plans for environmentally responsible tourism industry enterprises.