Tourist-recreational impact on the Moscow–St. Petersburg macroregion: a multi-scale assessment using Big Data

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Abstract

The possibilities of using one of the varieties of Big Data – geolocalized photographs – as an objective indicator of the spatial distribution and intensity of tourist and recreational load within the macroregion “From Moscow to St. Petersburg” allocated within the framework of the State Program for Tourism Development are considered. The study uses an original geoinformation model assembled on the basis of freely distributed OpenStreetMap layers and photo points localized in space and time. It allows, on the one hand, to characterize the features of the placement of attractors (natural, cultural) and tourist and recreational infrastructure, on the other – to objectively assess the spatial distribution of the presence of tourists and recreants within the macroregion and describe the specifics of their intra-annual (seasonal) “attraction”. Aggregation of photography points into polygons, taking into account the differentiated clustering distance, made it possible to form areas of seasonal (summer, winter and spring-autumn) stay of tourists, as well as to get an idea of the minimum year-round and maximum episodic areas within the macroregion and individual areas exposed to the potential impact of tourists and recreants. The differences between the minimum and maximum areas of stay of tourists and recreants are proposed to be used to assess the effectiveness of the functioning of the industry in the areas of the macroregion. The obtained spatial areas and patterns of tourists’ presence open up opportunities for an objective assessment of the potential load on natural and cultural heritage sites. The uneven inclusion of both natural and cultural attractors in the sphere of tourism and recreation has been revealed, which leads to a situation where some objects of natural and cultural heritage experience significant industry pressure, while others remain almost or completely unaffected by the presence of tourists and recreants.

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About the authors

Е. Yu. Kolbowsky

Lomonosov Moscow State University; Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: kolbowsky@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

O. A. Klimanova

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: oxkl@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. An example of data comparison on graphs for the Republic of Karelia: a) distribution of tourists by month according to SberAnalytics data, b) distribution of photos by month, c) dependence of the number of photos taken on the number of tourists (the value of the determination coefficient R2 is 10.3%); blue icons – winter months, red icons – summer months, yellow icons – off-season (spring – autumn).

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3. Fig. 2. Distribution of geolocalized photo images by seasons of the year in the Petrozavodsk region against the background of elements of tourist and recreational potential.

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4. Fig. 3. Some types of seasonal patterns and corresponding tourist and recreational areas within the macroregion: (a) summer around the regional center – Tver; (b) summer, coastal recreation on Lake Peipus; (c) summer lakeside on the skerry shores of Lake Ladoga in the vicinity of Kuznechnoye, Leningrad Region; (d) summer, with the Oredezhskoye Koltso river route in the vicinity of Luga; (d) winter around the Mikhailovskoye Museum-Reserve in the vicinity of Pushkin Hills; (e) winter with ski slopes and fishing in the vicinity of Pargolovo, Leningrad Region.

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5. Fig. 4. Seasonal areas of presence in the vicinity of Ostashkov, Tver region: (a) summer, (b) winter, (c) demi-season, (d) overlap of three areas.

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6. Fig. 5. Typical variants of the ratio of areas of presence of tourists and recreationists and specially protected natural areas: (a) the environs of St. Petersburg; (b) Valdai National Park on the border of Novgorod and Tver regions; (c) Zavidovo National Park on the axis between Moscow and Tver; (d) Ladoga Skerries, Republic of Karelia; (d) northwestern coast of Lake Onega, (e) “provincial” territory with specially protected natural areas between Andreapol and Nelidovo, Tver region. The density of areas of presence is estimated by 7 classes corresponding to intervals of absolute values ​​(the “natural boundaries” division method).

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