Rural tourism as a promising direction for the rural areas development in Russian regions

The current epidemiological situation in the world community, and as a consequence, the decrease in the level of income of the population had an impact on the structure of tourist demand, however, the share of rural tourism in the total volume of tourist services in the Russian Federation is still not large, however, the country has all the conditions for implementation of this type of tourism. Rural tourism can be positioned not only as one of the development directions for the inbound and domestic tourism in Russia, but also as a catalyst for the growth of basic and additional incomes of rural residents. The methodological basis of the study was the individual elements of a systematic approach that contribute to the development of an effective strategy for studying rural regions for the development of various subspecies of rural tourism, which made it possible to highlight the main factors influencing tourism in rural areas and conduct a comprehensive assessment of the region using the example of Stavropol region. The study examined the most popular types of rural tourism in the world and the Russian Federation, the geography of tourists entering the countryside for tourism purposes. The authors analyze foreign experience in the context of organizing rural tourism. An assessment of the tourist potential of Stavropol Krai, as one of the agrarian regions of Russia, is given, on the basis of which the main directions of the development of rural tourism are identified, as well as urgent problems that hinder the development of this type of tourism in the regions are identified.