Innovative development of tourist destinations of the Russian North (on the example of the destination «Beloozero» in the Vologda region)

The purpose of the study is to form an integrated approach to the innovative development of tourist destinations in the Russian North. The main methods: a systematic approach to research, an author’s methodological approach to assessing tourist potential, economic and statistical methods, data visualization and other methods of analysis and synthesis. The study was carried out on the materials of the tourist destination «Beloozero» of the Vologda Oblast as part of the tourist macroregion «Russian North and Arctic». Results: through the author’s methodology, an assessment of the potential for the development of nature-oriented tourism in the territory of the Beloozero destination at the initial and modern stages of its development was carried out, based on the results of the assessment, a significant potential for the development of nature-oriented types of tourism was identified; prospects for the development of nature-oriented types of tourist activity were determined, an innovative approach to the spatial organization and development of the Beloozero destination was proposed by forming a tourist intermunicipal cluster specializing in nature-oriented tourism. Scientific novelty: the originality of the developed integrated approach is determined by the specifics of the process of forming a tourist space, which contributes to the innovative development of intermunicipal destinations, based on the results of using the author’s methodology for assessing the potential of nature-oriented tourism. Practical significance: the developed approach can be applied by regional and municipal authorities and management in order to develop northern tourist destinations in modern conditions. Conclusion: the study makes it possible to assert that in the modern realities of the intensification of tourist activities in the northern tourist ter-rhetoric of the Russian Federation, the application of an innovative approach to the spatial organization and development of the destinations of the Russian North will contribute.