Overtourism at Baikal: Problems and Ways of Addressing Them

This article examines the socio-economic causes and consequences of a high load on tourist destinations (overtourism) in the Baikal Natural Territory (BNT). An economic analysis is made of the existing tourist flows. The areas of conflict of the interests of tourist business, the local population, authorities of different levels and investors have been identified. This study summarizes the results of field investigations made in a number of districts of Buryatia in order to develop the strategy of sustainable ecologically balanced development of the territory. The technique of informal interviews was used to identify and compare the opinions of different categories of people on the reasons behind the conflict of the interests in the BNT and the methods of settling them. Estimates of the economic benefits from the flow of unorganized tourists in the Baikal region of Buryatia by the method of travel costs have been obtained. It is shown that the policy of restriction on economic activities in the BNT and reliance on mass tourism lead to the degradation of the nature in Baikal and do not solve the problems of financial self-sufficiency of the territory. The mass nature of the tourist flow stifles the possibility for full-fledged communication with wildlife and for an educational and comfortable recreation provided that the recreational load on the territory is observed. In addition, super-tourism territories are vulnerable to emergencies (such as epidemics).