ABSTRACT
The authors studied challenges associated with inadequate development of tourist infrastructure in Russia and absence, with rare exceptions, of favorable conditions for investment in construction of tourist accommodation and attraction facilities. For many years tourism and various activities for organizing travel (licensing, standardization, certification of tourist services, etc.) did not have the necessary regulatory support. The article discusses the reasons that hamper tourism industry development in the context of the socio-economic crisis. The authors, using the formal legal, comparative legal and historically legal methods, make specific proposals for changing legislation dealing with protection of tourists’ rights, responsibility of tour operators and travel agencies, and create justification for a legal framework to regulate tourists stemming from socially unprotected layers of the population. In particular, travel insurance regulations should be instituted covering cases when a tourist who is obliged to insure his life and health on a trip abroad can choose among insurance companies and insurance rates (insurance options, for example, minimum insurance or a maximum package of insurance services), while a tour operator can only point tourists to existing insurance options.
