GEOGRAPHY OF MUSEUMS AND PROSPECTS OF THE MUSEUM TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE SAMARA REGION

Due to the growing socio-cultural significance and economic activity, museums are arousing research interest of specialists from various scientific fields. Close interaction of museum organizations with the tourism and recreation sphere gives relevance to research into the role that modern museum forms play in the formation of certain types of tourism, into regional features of museum placement, the impact that museums have on the economy and spatial organization of territories. A comprehensive study of the regional set of museums and the museum tourism development in the Samara region shows that the current state of museums, the lack of major museum destinations and funding for new high attractions do not allow the region to compete successfully for cruise tourists and in the framework of the interregional tourist project The Great Volga River Route. In the placement of Samara museums, one can trace the influence of agglomeration processes occurring in the region. This is manifested both in the concentration of museum activities in the center of the agglomeration and in the weak use of museum resources, growing risks of losing monuments on the boundaries. Under the existing conditions, the creation of new museum offers and the development of museum tourism in the Samara region is supposed to involve the following: the use of positive effects of agglomeration and overcoming of infrastructure constraints; increased readiness to compete on the basis of clustering and transfer of modern museum technologies from the central federal museums represented in Samara to regional museums, and from those to municipal and rural ones; innovative search for effective development models, integrated solutions and financing mechanisms.