In the current economic crisis, the formation and development of the tourist attraction of the municipality is one of the strategic directions of socio-economic activities of the modern states. Despite the high tourism potential of Russian territories, studying the trends, shaping tourist attractiveness of municipalities of the Russian Federation, has allowed to identify the most significant problem areas of development. The empirical base of the study presented a data expert interview of the heads of authorities of local municipalities of the Russian Federation, the results of the population survey, data of the Federal Service of State Statistics, the results of studies by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTSIOM), by the Fund «Public Opinion» (FOM) and others.
As a result of the survey of experts and the public in the Russian Federation it has been now formed a certain contradiction between a high tourism potential of local municipalities, the unique importance of territorial resources and a low level of tourist attraction. The article defines the priorities for the development of tourist attractiveness of Russian territories in present-day conditions.
The heterogeneity, a high level of differentiation in the level of development of tourism infrastructure results in the need to consolidate resources of different types of municipalities. Mutually beneficial cooperation of several municipalities allows consolidating existing resources, significantly diversify objects of the tourist show, to provide differentiated tourist services. The results confirm that the regions and urban districts can act as main actors, catalyzing the development of tourist attractiveness of a single territorial space.