TRANSFORMATION OF SOCHI RURAL AREAS INTO RURAL RESORTS AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE FORMATION OF SUBTROPICAL AGRODESTINATIONS

The paper characterizes the potential for agricultural development in Sochi rural districts by diversifying the main activities of rural producers in the formation of rural tourism. The authors of the study have introduced the concept of «rural resort of Sochi» into scientific circulation and recommended to create agrodestinations in the Russian subtropical zone with various sightseeing routes to historical sites and unique natural landscapes of the subtropics. Agriculture in the subtropical zone of the country is inherently unique. There is a demand for such research not only due to the changes taking place in the international and domestic tourist markets, but also due to the need to solve a number of tasks for ensuring sustainable socioeconomic development in the regions. The attractiveness of the peasant lifestyle, the peculiarities of culture, traditions of each people living in the resort city of Sochi are a factor in attracting tourists to the countryside outside the urban area. In such conditions, agricultural producers, having reached the limit of mastering the potential of their main activity, are forced to look for other ways for their development. Their choice is a way to differentiate activities through developing and creating new tourist and recreational resources, sightseeing routes and using implicit resources of the main production for agrotourism, which will lead to sustainable development and transformation of rural areas into various rural resorts in Sochi. The main factors of the special tourist attractiveness of the existing remote villages and auls in Sochi are determined. The authors of the paper include: favorable ecology, medicinal and agricultural resources, subtropical foothill climate, and diversity of the natural subtropical landscape, historical, cultural and Olympic heritage; originality of life traditions among various ethnic groups inhabiting the territory; accessibility of beaches and the mountain-climatic resort Krasnaya Polyana.