Abstract ID: 3.10179 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Tunkinsky National Park is located on the northern slopes of the Hamar-Daban and Eastern Sayan mountain ranges and within the Tunkinskaya Basin, forming part of the Baikal section of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its geographical position offers significant potential for international tourism, as the park borders Mongolia. Tunkinsky National Park is the only national park in the Russian Federation whose territory is entirely located within the boundaries of a municipal formation that includes 35 settlements with a population of 23,000 people. Therefore, the task of preserving natural heritage while respecting the interests and needs of the local population is more relevant than ever. The park attracts over 150,000 visitors annually, offering numerous mountain hiking trails and ecological paths. However, not all trails are equipped to meet modern usage standards. Uncontrolled tourism growth can lead to negative consequences for the park’s ecosystems. To regulate tourism activities in protected areas, regulatory legal acts were adopted in 2023, governing recreational activities in protected areas. One of the new legislative requirements is the necessity to develop a Recreational Activity Plan for the national park. The plan must include information about tourist infrastructure facilities, visited natural complexes, recreational carrying capacity of the protected area and other information related to the planning of recreational activities. The study aims to test a proposed methodology for creating Recreational Activity Plan for Tunkinsky National Park as a case study. The development of the Plan’s cartographical component involved collecting data on natural and cultural resources, field collection of data on recreational facilities, counting visitors, and surveying them. Preliminary maps were drafted based on this data. The development of the Recreational Activity Plan is essential for determining the park’s recreational potential and guiding the future of tourism and recreation within it. Recommendations for improving the methodology are include adding information on water protection zones, flood zones, sanitary protection areas, and existing and planned solid waste management infrastructure. This information is vital for planning recreational activities, placing infrastructure, and calculating recreational carrying capacity.