PROMISING USE OF RECREATIONAL RESOURCES OF MOUNTAIN AND FOOTHILL TERRITORIES (USING EXAMPLE OF ABSHERON DISTRICT OF KRASNODAR TERRITORY AND REPUBLIC OF ADYGEA)
The modern development of tourism in the Apsheron district is a priority direction of socio- economic development. The Apsheron district has unique natural monuments that are valuable in scientific, cultural, ecological, and aesthetic terms. The area is suitable for kiing, healthing, extreme, sightseeing, and educational, environmental, landscape, mountain tourism, as well as hang gliding, mountaineering, orienteering, rafting, canyoning which makes the area very attractive among tourists.Despite the availability of particularly valuable recreational resources and exceptional tourist potential, there are a number of factors that hinder the development of tourism in the Apsheron region at the proper level. The significant problems of the district are caused by the neglected and insufficiently developed tourist infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure which does not meet modern safety requirements and needs reconstruction, engineering infrastructure of settlements, as well as the urgent issue of providing infrastructure facilities of the service sector with modern material and technical base which has been morally and physically outdated by now. there is a small number of hotel complexes, sanatoriums and recreation centers that cannot provide a large number of rooms of different categories and provide high-quality services in the tourism sector. The problems of the use of tourist and recreational resources of the Apsheron district include the tense ecological situation that started in recreational areas due to the intensification of recreational activities and the lack of appropriate tourist infrastructure (the territory of the Apsheron district is covered by 234 thousand ha of natural forest, which is 83% of the total area of the municipality).The Problems of this scale can be solved through the creation and modernization of transport, hotel, information, and other specialized tourist infrastructure. At the same time, it is important to remember that the satisfaction of tourist needs should not harm the social and economic interests of the population of the district, cultural and historical values, and most importantly the environment and natural resources. The desired effect of the tourist development of the Apsheron district is the satisfaction of the local population with the level and quality of life. It is important to integrate the tourism sector into the economic sphere of the Apsheron district, joint policy and planning for the improvement of the local community.The prospects of using the tourist and recreational potential in the Apsheron district are very great. The Lagonaki Upland has such a potential, the natural resources of which create prerequisites for the development of a ski resort. In March 2021 Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin signed an order on the creation of the Lagonaki biosphere polygon with an area of more than 17.2 thousand hectares. The motives for the creation of the polygon are obvious: the weakening of the environmental regime will give impetus to the development of eco-tourism and will allow the creation of a new ski resort on the Lagonaki plateau. Based on the order of the Government of the NPJSС «Krasnaya Polyana» and JSC «Corporation Tourism.The Russian Federation» in April 2021 signed an agreement on the creation of an all-season mountain eco-resort«Lagonaki». In June, within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an agreement was signed between the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Adygea and NPJSС «Krasnaya Polyana» on the creation of a large-scale investment project on the territory of the Republic of Adygea.The Lagonaki Biosphere polygon includes the priceless Fisht-Oshtenovsky mountain range and part of the territory of the Caucasian State Natural Biosphere Reserve a «UNESCO» World Natural Heritage Site which caused many Russian scientists to fear for the unique ecosystem of the reserve, realizing that the use of natural territory for human tourism activities is always an inevitable damage to biological diversity. After that, hundreds of respected scientists of the Russian Federation, including doctors and candidates of biological sciences, philologists, environmentalists and representatives of other fields of sciences signed an open appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him not to allow the development of the Lagonaki Highlands for a ski resort, as well as activists and environmentalists created an electronic petition, which was sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin and Rospotrebnadzor. «UNESCO» has warned that the construction of large-scale infrastructure on the Lagonaki plateau will entail the inclusion of the Western Caucasus object in the World Heritage List under threat.Due to the resonance in the media and the intervention of international environmental organizations, investors and authorities had to make a compromise decision, where it was decided to exclude the most valuable natural territories from the Lagonaki biosphere polygon, after which the area of the polygon was reduced to 15 thousand hectares, and changes were made to the project itself. The investors considered environmental requirements, where the design and construction of the all-season mountain eco-resort«Lagonaki» will take place in compliance with international standards BRE (BREEAM) and USGBC (LEED), including energy-efficient buildings, safe materials, water conservation at all stages of construction and operation of the resort, as there is a problem with water in this area, as well as with obtaining energy from renewable sources.It can only be hoped that investors will agree to take into account all environmental requirements from conservationists and other organizations, which will allow us to further implement the construction of the all-season mountain eco-resort «Lagonaki», which will have a significant impact on the development of the Apsheron district, but also we should not forget that without solving the existing problems associated with the neglected engineering and transport infrastructure and with the lack of a hotel complex that meets all standards, the district will not have the opportunity to fully demonstrate its unique tourist and recreational potential.