July 29, 2020

On July 28, the finalists of the all-Russian competition on identifying pilot territories for the development of eco-tourism in terms of creating tourist and recreational clusters as part of the integrated development of specially protected natural areas, organized by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, were announced. Samara region reached the final with the project of the tourist and recreational cluster (TRC) "Samara Luka".

The idea of creating a cluster was proposed in 2019 by the team of the Regional Development Research Institute of Samara State University of Economics, as part of the strategy development of socio-economic development of Zhigulevsk. According to Natalia Polyanskova, Director of the Regional Development Research Institute of SSEU, Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, the project received support of the regional government.

A consortium consisting of representatives of the regional government, specially protected natural areas, municipalities and experts was created to participate in the competition. Samara State University of Economics became a key expert and member of the project team.

Information on the cluster territory:

• was created in 1984;
• 74 459 people live on the territory of the cluster;
• 35 communities;
• total area of cluster is 164 700 ha;
• 2 protected areas of federal importance is included in cluster

The idea of the project proposed for the competition is simple. It is the integrated development of the national park "Samara Luka" and adjacent territories. "Nowadays "Samara Luka" is a unique natural reserve museum under the open sky. And our task is to create a network of well-equipped ecological routes, tourist infrastructure for year-round operation and to attract extra-budgetary investments," explains Natalia Polyanskova. According to her, SSEU together with its partners formed a portfolio of investment projects supported by agreements of intent for 470 million rubles. "Now we have 15 potential residents on the cluster territory. These are mostly small businesses, with 25 projects of small and medium-sized enterprises in total." At the same time, Polyanskova clarifies that before entering the pool, investors ' projects are selected. "There will be huge hotels, because the most important thing is to enter into the concept of a unique ecosystem, mountain landscape, rural life,environmental and health recreation. In other words, the proposed project should correspond to the concept. Our goal is to preserve the unique natural complex and to minimize the anthropogenic impact on the territory."

Until September 19, the consortium will develop the concept, enhance plan and development strategy of the TRC "Samara Luka". After that, based on the results of the project presentations, the 10 best projects that will receive federal funding will be selected at the final strategic session in Moscow!

The all-Russian competition on identifying pilot territories for the development of eco-tourism in terms of creating tourist and recreational clusters in the framework of integrated development of specially protected natural areas was initiated by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, as part of the "Local-ID" program aimed at the development of territories.

The finalists included 30 subjects of the Russian Federation from 7 Federal districts. The leader in the number of projects that reached the final was the Far Eastern Federal district. It included 7 projects. The second place in the number of finalists was taken by the Volga Federal district. It included 6 projects. The third place was shared by the North-Western, Central and Siberian Federal districts (5 projects each). In the Southern Federal district, 4 projects reached the final, and in the Ural Federal district included 2 projects.