The “Green Path” of Ethno-Tourism’s Monetization: Dagestan. The Archi Project

Abstract

The article discusses relevant methodological and applied issues of using the recreational potential of mountain ethnocultural landscapes for the sustainable development of mountain areas, replenishing family budgets and improving the quality of life of mountaineers. As a methodological guideline, the principle of a systematic approach is used. Ethno-tourism is considered as a factor of direct and indirect impact on traditional life-support systems of selected rural enclaves.Positive factors of socio-economic development, as well as risks associated with restrictions on the development of private business, with contradictions and violations of moral and ethical standards, and ethnocultural degradation of rural areas are highlighted. It is noted that the consequence of the administrative solution of the problem of land and demographic imbalances between mountain regions and the plain due to large-scale migrations of mountaineers to the plain of more than two hundred mountain villages and farms was that a large number of terraced fields, gardens, agricultural land were abandoned. Attention is drawn to the fact that over the past half century, the stability of demographic indicators in Dagestan is ensured by rural enclaves in the lowlands. The definition of "monetization" of ethnographic tourism is given as the formation of a sustainable communication system between rural enclaves, their representations in cities, travel agencies and the expert community. The fact that the deployment of a network of historical and cultural routes and ecological paths in ethnic territories should be preceded by field ethnographic studies is highlighted. The importance of information support of ethnographic tourism, coordination of interests of rural self-government bodies, regional authorities, agribusiness, and local population is noted. These provisions and approaches to the development and information management of the development of ethnographic tourism in Dagestan are illustrated by the example of a small touristic project “Archi”.