Special Aspects of Organization of Environmental Tourism in the Region

and Sports of the National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor This article considers the peculiarities of ecological tourism development in the region on the example of Nizhny Novgorod region. The relevance of this publication lies in the assessment of tourist and recreational resources and the study of the potential of the created and formed special protected natural areas of the region. The paper presents the results of the experiment on activation of ecological and cognitive activity of students aimed at the expansion of ecological tourism. The authors believe that the most active part of ecotourism is the youth. Therefore, close attention is paid to this group. Tourism development programmes are given, according to which an eclectic development of ecotourism in Nizhny Novgorod region is proposed. To improve ecotourism it is proposed to use favourable factors of ecotourism of special protected natural areas and activation of cognitive and conscious attitude to nature. This is what the activities of government agencies should be aimed at.