The Confessional Heritage of the Penza Region as an Economic Potential for Tourism Development: Classification, Problems, and Commercialization Models

The purpose of this article is to analyze the objects of confessional heritage in the Penza region and assess their economic potential for use in the development of the tourism industry. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to identify the main problems related to confessional heritage, classify objects of confessional heritage, analyze the current state of religious monuments, study practical examples of using confessional heritage in tourism, and identify and describe the existing models for commercializing the activities of objects of confessional heritage. In this article, the authors identify three categories of religious heritage sites: those successfully integrated into the tourism infrastructure, those in a state of disrepair or abandoned, and those that are little known but promising for tourism development. Four models of commercializing such sites are considered — from the basic one (entrance fees and donations) to innovative ones: “Temple + product brand”, “Temple + education”. This study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation Project No. 25-28-20463, https://rscf.ru/en/project/25-28-20463/.