Currently, the tourism industry is a catalyst for the socio-economic development in many countries. According to the World Tourism Organization data, one of 1 000 peoples have travel every year. One of eleven workplaces is provided by the tourism sector; 7% of world trade by services falls on this sphere. In 2015 1.4 trillion dollars was spent on tourism services and goods; 4 billion dollars is spent in the sphere of tourism every day. Today, the strategic management of the tourism sector is a component of the complex strategic socio-economic development of the Russian Federation in the strategic planning framework. The role and significance of tourism inter-territorial cooperation in the sphere of strategic planning in the Russian Federation are defined; specific practical examples are given (World Tourism Organization, World Travel & Tourism Council). Interterritorial cooperation in the tourism field in the Russian Federation is practiced within the framework of organizations, joint tourist clusters and routes. Weak positions of normative legal regulation of strategic management of the tourism sphere in the Russian Federation concerning the sphere of social and economic development are revealed using the method of analogy.