The Impact of Participation in the Belt and Road Initiative on the Tourist Flows

Abstract

The article discusses the changes taking place in the geo-economics of Eurasia associated with the creation of the People's Republic of China One Belt One Road initiative in 2013. These changes are linked with globalization, increased exportimport dependence and with the forecast of an increase in mutual tourist flows between the countries involved in the program. We present potential problems and development perspectives of One Belt One Road initiative and investigate the impact of participation in the Belt and Road Initiative on the economy and tourism industry of the Russian Federation.The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that there are differences in socio-demographic, political, economic, naturalgeographical and other conditions in most regions of Russia and other countries implementing the program "One Belt One Road", which excludes a unified approach to the development of tourism there. These differences require a sound policy of socioeconomic development based on a differentiated approach to different types of regions, depending on their level of economic maturity, social and environmental situation, and specialization. Tourism is inherently linked to specific resources, natural and geographical factors, regional characteristics and therefore needs a broad decentralized organization, primarily on a regional basis, which, however, is supposed to implement the same concept of increasing reciprocal tourist flows.The scientific justification of the development of tourism under the One Belt One Road program involves solving the problem of integrated development of infrastructure support for regional tourism and hospitality systems. This article proposes a solution to the lack of sound methods for estimating its level of development, due to the lack not only of adequate tools, but also of a statistical base that allows to obtain up-to-date information. An information base has been developed to monitor, assess and rank regions to determine whether the level of funding for tourism infrastructure development is optimal.

The Role of Metaverse in Silk Road’s Tourism:

“…4. Accessibility issues arise from a shortage of trained guides, language barriers, analog formats of architectural documentation, maps, museum catalogs, and intangible digital access barriers that affect disabled populations (Kuchumov and Testina, 2020;Lazanyuk and Revinova, 2020;Li, Tavitiyaman et al, 2021). This impedes visitors' access and understanding.…”

The Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road Tourism: Qualifying Resources, Amplifying Messages

“…In this regard, China plans to invest $500-700 million USD in Lanzu for the Silk Road Cultural Heritage Expo City (Shephard 2016) and the XinJiang Yughur Autonomous region, which will act as an important new tourism hub within the new Silk Road. The New Silk Road initiative will increase cultural engagement, and provide new opportunities for event marketing (Kuchumov and Testina 2020).…”

“…Finally, Kuchumov and Testina (2020) studied how participation in the New Silk Road initiative influences tourism flows. Their research highlighted the impact that increases in the flow of Chinese tourists will have on the development of higher quality Russian tourism offerings.…”

Influencing Factors of Azerbaijan and China’s Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy under the One Belt One Road Initiative

“…At present, it has had an extensive global impact and led to large leaps in cooperation between China and other countries [2,3]. As of January 2021, China has signed cooperation agreements with 171 countries and international organizations, many of which are related to tourism cooperation [4]. The BRI is a new model of international regional economic cooperation driven by China, and a national strategy for coordinating China's comprehensive opening up in various fields [5,6].…”