Tourism as a «post-staples» diversification for Russian remote resource-dependent regions: A new path for Kuzbass

Abstract

The article written in the analytical framework of evolutionary economic geography, which stipulates that current distribution of economic activity depends on past history and following path dependence. Many remote regions in the world based their economies on the extraction of natural resources-mining, oil and gas industries, agriculture and forestry etc. Those commodities are commonly referred to as «staples», i. e. natural resources that require minimal on*site processing to prepare them for export. This paper answers the research question-whether resource regions can transit from extractive industries to attractive due to economic lock*ins and an embedded lack of local capacity. There is a lack of investigation in research literature on how accumulated resources of «old» staples path are used to create new industries that are completely different from any existing ones. This paper presents successful cases of Kemerovo region-Kuzbass, Russia, on how the new tourism industry uses and transforms generic resources of resource*based economy. It is shows that public-private interactions can lock*out even staple*economy and establish tourism destination in tourism unfriendly environment of industrial and mining region.