Diversification of Tourist Activities as A Resource for Development of Socio-Cultural Sphere of Local Communities

The purpose of the work is to research and substantiate the directions of tourist activity, filling with new forms and a new understanding of types of tourism that have potential for the development of the socio-cultural sphere of local communities. The research methodology consisted of the principles of a complex of general scientific methods and approaches, in particular, sociocultural and polysystemic analysis, systematisation of materials and generalisation, which make it possible to identify resources of interaction of touristic and sociocultural spheres for the development of local and regional tourism activities. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the expansion of ideas about the prospects of diversification of tourist activities in territorial communities, the development of tourist routes and destinations as types of socio-cultural space, the change of approaches to the assessment of the natural and tangible and intangible cultural heritage of each of the regions of our country. Conclusions. Identifying the priorities of innovative tourist and socio-cultural activities in the consumer market of regional tourist products, contributes to the emergence of new tourist and recreational facilities that emphasise local identity; optimisation of the processes of involving broad segments of the population in cooperation with various cultural communities; development of strategies related to long-term forecasting of the development of territories of local communities.