The study is devoted to identifying the resource potential of gastronomic tourism as a tool for managing the hospitality of the North Caucasus territory and promoting tourist destinations in the region. The objectives of the study were to consider the phenomenon of gastronomic tourism in terms of the territory geocultural branding. The article presents a systematic analysis of scientific research devoted to the problem of gastronomic tourism as a resource for managing the hospitality of the territory. The structural-system approach, functional analysis, activity approach and other methods are the methodological basis of the research. Scientific novelty is determined by identifying the specifics of gastronomic tourism in the North Caucasus. It is determined that according to the type of the tourist destination, gastronomic tours can be both a rural tour and a city tour; according to the target setting, it can be a cultural, educational, health-related tour, ecotours, etc. In practice, in the North Caucasian Federal District, combined tours that combine all the above-mentioned features are often offered. A gastronomic monotour is defined by the authors of the study as a special type of tours associated with visiting production (or cultivation) facilities and tasting one type of product (wine, beer, cheese, melons and gourds, etc.). The analysis of practices demonstrating effective event marketing in the field of gastronomic tourism in the North Caucasus is of practical value. The authors of the study come to the conclusion that a common communicative failure in the field of Russian culinary tourism is the practice of highlighting only one or several national dishes of a particular cuisine, while the fact that a unique characteristic of Russian culinary identity is, first of all, the variety of cuisines of the peoples inhabiting the country territory is not taken into account. In the conclusion of the article, the criteria of efficiency and prospects for the development of gastronomic tourism as a tool for managing the hospitality of the North Caucasus territory are determined.

Branding has become one of the most powerful ways to develop territories. Branding tools increase recognition and attractiveness, as well as help territories to compete for the end consumer in highly competitive industrial markets. The main research purpose was to identify such effective marketing communications tools that will ensure the promotion of the ecological resort region. The article reveals the relevance of marketing communications in the development of territory branding. It names new popular marketing communications tools that need to be included in the regional development strategy and in the strategy for building a territorial brand. The analysis of available research on "brand" and "territorial brand" categories allows formulating the copyright definition of the territory brand notion. The authors underline the importance of a wide range of audiences, which should become the target of activities aimed at building the brand of the territory. The cases of the most successful territorial brands identified during the implementation of geo-branding practice in Russia have been considered. The analysis of research literature results in emphasis on errors leading to failures or to a zero result in the implementation of strategies for creating and promoting the brand of the territory. One of the Russian regions, the Stavropol Kray, has become the case for estimating the current state of branding and for identifying the potential for creating a successful geo-brand. The article singles out the main factors that influence the success of an eco-resort region brand, including its development and growth, creativity, attractiveness of the territory, support and control. The authors make conclusions on the importance of marketing communications in creating a strategy for forming a territory brand.

Since March 2020, against the backdrop of a massive decline in the global tourism market, there has been an increase in interest in micro-tourism in all countriestravelling within the region of residence or neighboring regions. The study is aimed at solving a serious problem of the development of micro-tourism, which consists in the lack of sufficient data on specific tourist sites of certain territories, as well as tools for their analysis, which make it possible to predict tourist flows, as well as to develop and promote both individual sites and the territory as a whole. Most of the existing approaches to analytics of the digital space in micro-tourism involve the use of data that tracks actions already taken by tourists, in most cases relying on their digital footprint associated with financial transactions. At the micro-tourism level, there are many tourist sites, the popularity of which cannot be analyzed in this way, for example, natural attractions. Using such digital space analytics tools as search queries and hashtags in social networks, the authors propose to assess the potential interest in tourist sites and their real popularity, to rank objects by these indicators and thus to predict tourist flows, distribute investments and highlight groups of objects for priority development. and promotion. The proposed approach has been tested on the example of a municipal district with thirteen tourist sites. It is inexpensive, understandable and convenient for specialists of any level of training. The ranking of tourist sites can be carried out both by tour operators and by municipal or regional authorities.