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Introduction
The tourism and hospitality market in Russia was almost ruined after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The environment in post-Soviet Russia was highly unstable, and there were a number of negative factors that have been influencing the local tourism and hospitality sector since the early 1990s, including decreased production rates, low real disposable incomes and wholesale redundancies (Balaeva et al. , 2012). After a very hard decade at the end of the twentieth century, the industry experienced a gradual recovery with the emergence of new actors and new management approaches; it has become a fast-growing market, showing great vitality and bright prospects for development. In the ranking of the top ten largest countries in terms of tourism expenditure, the Russian Federation in 2013 rose to a higher position and took the fourth place in the world (Silaeva et al. , 2014).
Actually, Russia is a magical destination for many different kinds of tourism. It is a blend of Eastern and Western culture; it has a long history, diversity of climatic zones, beautiful natural scenery, unique cultural heritage and rich natural resources, including spa resources (mineral water, hot springs, etc.). However, in spite of the fact that Russia is providing ample opportunities for various leisure and business trips, the foreign travel and tourism mindset is usually to believe that Russia is not an especially attractive tourist destination. Indeed, to fully realize the potential of Russia as a tourist destination, a lot still needs to be done for travelers, both for foreign tourists visiting the country and for Russians who have a long tradition of domestic tourism but are now much more demanding than in the Soviet period. Many potentially attractive Russian regions lack the infrastructure and proper funding, as well as managerial skills, and thus cannot create a steady tourist flow.
The main problem is the poor development of the tourism infrastructure, including a shortage of accommodation and entertainment resources and the poor state of many local attractions and road networks. The infrastructure is also poorly adapted for people with disabilities and foreign tourists because of a lack of supporting information in English. In accordance with the World Economic Forum (WEF) Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2015, Russia sits in...