The existing system of exploitation of natural resources is irrational, which provokes a permanent regression of the resource potential of the Republic of Crimea. The study examined the legal and organizational and economic prerequisites for the development of the tourist and recreational potential of the Republic of Crimea. The aim of the study is to substantiate the organizational, economic and regulatory instruments for the development of tourism and recreational potential at the meso-economic level. As a result of the study, the authors substantiate a mechanism for stimulating the development of ecotourism through the formation of ecotourism clusters localized in the areas of protected natural sites, which in the future can serve as the basis for intersectoral economic relations and act as an effective tool for creating new jobs, developing transport and logistics infrastructure, and increasing tax revenues to the budget. An important advantage of the presented measures of organizational, economic and state stimulation is the possibility of their implementation at the local and regional level without involving the organizational and economic resources of the federal center.
Keywords-the Republic of Crimea, tourist and recreational potential, exploitation of natural resources, stimulation of ecological tourism, organizational and economic mechanism.