Tourism Development in Remote Rural Areas

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the impact of tourism on the sustainable development of remote rural areas. The purpose of the study is to compare the processes of tourism development in the distant rural settlement Teriberka of the Murmansk region and the remote Ust-Tsilemsky district of the Komi Republic, and to identify their features. This study also focuses on revealing the attitudes of local residents and local governments towards tourism development in their area. The data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews with local residents and local governments of the Ust-Tsilemsky district and the Teriberka, online surveys among local residents, and content analysis of Russian mass media resources. First of all, the results imply that local residents and local governments of both areas hope for positive changes after the adoption of the tourism development strategy and consider this to be a necessary part of the tourism development process in their area. Secondly, the study also finds that local residents in both cases have concerns related to the negative impact of tourism on the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the settlements. They are more pronounced in the Teriberka. The practical results of the study will allow local residents and local governments involved in the development of tourism to learn from the experience of Teriberka and Ust Tsilemsky district. Moreover, the findings can serve as a starting point for future research by students in the field of tourism development and sustainable development of peripheral rural settlements. Keywords: sustainable development, remote rural areas, peripheral areas, local governments, local residents