Abstract: The object of the study is sightseeing activities as an aspect of local history work. The subject of the research is cognitive approaches as a method of developing new sightseeing destinations. The purpose of the study is to reveal the creative potential of cognitive approaches in the development of excursion projects. The author, based on the works of academician Dmitry Likhachev devoted to local history, concludes that it is cognitive approaches aimed at studying the phenomenon of everyday life through understanding the interaction of mind and culture that most meet the needs of modern society in matters of cultural immunity formation. The author suggests such a direction as creative regional studies, where creation means higher a form of creativity that aims to transform the surrounding reality for the better. The research methodology includes the combined use of various research methods, which, according to the author, are complementary. This is a Micro-urbanism, which is a set of methods for studying urban space precisely by its "details", methods of visual analysis and thesaurus analysis. The main conclusion from the conducted research is that at the present stage, taking into account the geopolitical situation, there is again a need to develop new areas of local lore that include sightseeing activities, in which cognitive methods can play one of the leading roles. The author's main contribution to the study is to substantiate the relevance of using cognitive methods in the development of new local history work’s directions, to develop a methodology, to reveal the essence and specifics of such a direction as creative regional study, as well as to reveal the creative potential of cognitive approaches. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that local history work has not been previously considered in these aspects.