Assessing impact of COVID-19 on the Russian tourism sector and its development scenarios in the context of value chains transformation

Abstract

This study is devoted to assessing the pandemic’s impact on the Russian tourism sector functioning. The authors determine that the spread of coronavirus in the world significantly affected the state of tourism in Russia, greatly reducing the volume of outbound and inbound tourism and depriving tourist companies of the source of income. All representatives of the tourism industry, such as travel agencies and operators, accommodation facilities, as well as transport companies specializing in tourist transportation, face negative effects of COVID-19. The article calculates the effects for the Russian economy caused by decreased tourist demand in 2020 in the context of indicators, such as gross output, employee number and wage fund for all types of economic activity. In conclusion, the work proposes scenarios for boosting the Russian tourism sector in the near future with regard to current conditions, and for each scenario identifies measures for their implementation.