Development of inbound extreme tourism from Southeast Asian countries in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Ivanov Maksim Vasil'evich Senior lecturer, Department of Culturology, North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Kulakovsky str., 42, office 226 mv.ivanov@s-vfu.ru

In the context of the global economic crisis and the intensification of foreign policy confrontation, the role of domestic tourism will only increase, especially if the policy of its support by the Russian leadership continues. In the strategic development documents of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the tourism industry is recognized as one of the priority non-resource sectors of the economy. In the "Concept of tourism development in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for 2020 – 2024", the three root directions associated with the prospects for increasing the role of tourism in the life of the region are indicated: a) extreme cold; b) the original culture of the peoples of Yakutia; c) unique nature. These areas are favorable primarily for the development of active types of tourism, including extreme tourism. (Decree of the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) dated April 28, 2020 No. 401-r "Concept of tourism development in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for 2020 – 2024").

Extreme tourism is a form of free play activity carried out in the form of travel, the purpose of which is activities related to overcoming difficulties and dangers in situations of high degree of uncertainty and risk, posing a danger to human health and even life and forcing a person to act on the verge of their physical and psychological limits.

In the strategic documents for the development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the growth of inbound tourism implies the expansion of cross-border tourism, primarily due to tourists from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. (LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA) dated December 19, 2018 2077-Z N 45-VI "On the Strategy of socio-economic development of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) until 2032 with a target vision until 2050"). At the same time, due to the change in the foreign policy situation in the 20s of the XXI century, as well as the sharply increased volume of Chinese tourists on the international market, the main priority for the development of international tourism in Yakutia may be measures to attract tourists from China.

Increased attention to tourists from the Asia-Pacific region, especially from the People's Republic of China, in the first quarter of the XXI century is a global trend. An adventure tourism market survey released in 2018 by the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) states that China is becoming the largest supplier of customers to the international tourism market, and countries that are willing to accept Chinese tourists are the most successful in the global tourism industry. Over twenty years of tourism development, according to the authors of the review, Chinese tourists are becoming more sophisticated and fearless, they are no longer satisfied with passive sightseeing, 9% of them crave adventure, 17% seek to understand foreign culture more deeply. According to a study conducted by the China Outdoor Association, 60 million Chinese people are engaged in sports tourism: horseback riding, mountaineering, rock climbing, etc. (20 Adventure Travel Trends to Watch in 2018//cdn.adventuretravel.biz/research/2018-Travel-Trends.pdf) In 2017 over 23 million Chinese tourists went on adventure tours abroad, of which 3,915,000 tourists made extreme tours (hard adventure trip). At the same time, 10% of adventure tourism enthusiasts and 11% of standard travel enthusiasts (mainstream travelers) named the polar and Arctic routes as destinations where they would like to make tours. Chinese tourists associate adventure and extreme tours with visiting remote places that they perceive as exotic and dangerous, without directly engaging in extreme and dangerous practices, unlike Western tourists. By adventure tourism, 19% of Chinese tourists understand visiting sparsely populated, inaccessible and dangerous places, 26% of Chinese travelers associate adventure tourism with travel in special conditions associated with inaccessibility and risk. Only 12% of tourists from China associate adventure tourism with special physical activity. As a rule, Chinese tourists still lack the experience and skills to engage in such types of tourism as mountaineering, rafting or mountain biking. The main type of adventure tourism practiced by Chinese tourists is visiting wildlife, mainly for video and photo shooting for the purpose of posting on social networks.

In addition, Chinese tourists are attractive in terms of increasing the economic capital of the host country, so, according to the World Tourism Organization (United Nations World Tourism Organization), on the indicators of international tourism in 2019, tourists from China are leading in terms of travel expenses – 255 billion dollars. Leaving far behind representatives of other countries (USA - 152 billion dollars, Germany – 93 billion dollars, Great Britain – 72 billion dollars, France – 52 billion dollars). (International Tourism Highlights 2020 Edition//www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284422456) In addition, adventure and extreme tours are economically beneficial for the host country in terms of the fact that the majority of funds – 65% spent by this category of tourists remains in the local economy. In mass tourism, over 85% of revenues go to international transport companies, hotel chains and entertainment centers. (Adventure Travel Overview& Market Sizing//cdn-research.adventuretravel.biz/research/643de67be7f451.17320439/Adventure-Travel-Market-Size.pdf).

As mentioned above, we propose to consider the People's Republic of China as the main consumer of extreme tourism services in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). In order to offer a competitive product in the extreme tourism market to potential customers, we need to determine the influence of cultural values and traditions on the motivational attitudes of a Chinese tourist, his basic requirements and expectations from extreme tours.

If we turn to the opinion of researchers, the main factors that encourage tourists from China to travel abroad are: 1) cultural interests, for example, acquaintance with exotic customs, with a special cultural atmosphere, with historical heritage and cultural attractions, the desire to taste delicious food; 2) the desire for a natural environment: to see beautiful landscapes untouched by man, etc. 3) curiosity: the desire to see a famous place or a place in which “we haven't had any yet”; 4) recommendations, including advice from friends and relatives, as well as recommendations from other tourists; 5) the desire to spend a vacation usefully, organize leisure time. (Market Research Report on Chinese Outbound Tourist (City) Consumption (2017-2018). World Tourism Cities Federation ISOS.2018 //https://oldwww.wtcf.org.cn/uploadfile/2018/0913/20180913025210427.pdf)

To understand the Chinese tourist, the data of cross-cultural studies based on the methodology of G. Hofstede, F. Trompenaars, E. Hall, etc., which reveal the features of tourist motivation and behavior of tourists during travel in comparison with representatives of other cultures, are of great interest.

L. He and V. Filimonau cite in their work the following basic Chinese traditional values in comparison with British ones, in the aspect of outdoor recreation. China is an exclusively collectivist society, where social values prevail over personal ones, so Chinese tourists prefer traveling in groups, unlike English tourists, who more often prefer to travel alone. Therefore, Chinese tourists tend to unite with their compatriots when traveling, prefer group sightseeing, collective photography, etc., some may simply follow the group, focusing not on personal, but on group opinion and tastes. In addition, Chinese society is traditionally focused on establishing harmony with the world, priority is given to attitudes to accept and fit into the surrounding social and natural environment, unlike the British, who consider a person an active subject who perceives the environment as a means to achieve their own goals. Therefore, Chinese tourists prefer tours involving nature observation, passive outdoor recreation, and the British prefer active tours that involve overcoming the forces of nature. ^[1]

Interesting, from the point of view of our research, are the data of R. Lai (R. Li) on the peculiarities of the behavior of Chinese tourists during visits to US national parks. Firstly, Chinese tourists show serious respect for natural sites that have the status of a sacred place, because of a sense of reverence, they sometimes even refuse to visit them or approach them. Secondly, the researchers note the fact that Chinese tourists are not very disappointed when certain expectations from the tour are not met, complaining about fate. For example, in US national parks, where they expected to see wild animals, but not meeting them, they refer to fate or fate, the intervention of higher forces ("Yuan" or "Yuanfen" or "Suiyuan"). Therefore, for the most part they remain satisfied with their journey. Apparently, this is due to the preserved Taoist and Buddhist traditions in spiritual culture. Thirdly, China is a society with a high distance to power, whose members respect and respect inequality in relations. From this point of view, Chinese tourists overly trust the guides, whom they associate with power and authority, and unlike other foreigners, they listen to their opinions, condescend to comments about proper behavior, and expect them to provide more information of various kinds about the sights. Fourth, Chinese tourists can make decisions about visiting certain attractions spontaneously, unlike tourists from other countries who follow a pre-selected route. Finally, Chinese tourists, when choosing a tour, are guided by more information that they can find on national websites, reviews and recommendations from relatives, acquaintances and other Chinese travelers are of great importance to them, they tend to trust less advertising of travel companies and practically do not turn to the sites of the national parks themselves. ^[2]

Chinese researchers believe that the methodology of Hofstede's cross-cultural studies, although they have heuristic capabilities, nevertheless, in their opinion, they are overly schematic, Westernized and simply outdated, since they do not take into account changes in the values of Chinese residents against the background of rapid socio-economic transformations.

 To. In the work devoted to the analysis of the impact of changes in Chinese values on tourism, CHC Hsu and S. Huang separately distinguish traditional Chinese values and modern ones formed in the era of postmodernism. Traditional Chinese values are based on religious and philosophical teachings: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Confucianism includes a set of social and ethical precepts that define interpersonal relationships and are necessary to maintain social order. Social values are above the values of an individual, therefore, a "noble husband" in his life should be guided by the public interests, first of all, of the family, as well as the collective, the state. Taoism emphasizes the need to maintain harmonious relations with the outside world and promotes naturalness. Buddhism preaches karma, paying great attention to cause-and-effect relationships. The researchers concluded that many new values have appeared in modern Chinese society, some of them retain their connection with traditional values, some are introduced in the wake of the market economy, modernization and globalization, such as individualism, materialism and the desire for ostentatious luxury. So when choosing tours, the Chinese strive for travel associated with a combination of the following features: convenience, access to new knowledge, security, quality leisure and freedom. At the same time, only the pursuit of knowledge and education are called traditionally Chinese values. Many Chinese go on trips, according to researchers, guided by modern values: living in the present and for themselves, demonstrating wealth, striving for comfort, idleness, etc.   The values of interpersonal relationships, which are most regulated by Confucianism, are the most traditional, which determine the manifestation of collectivism, conformism in travel and the desire for joint family recreation. ^[3]

 Chinese researchers S. S. Huang and D. Wen (J. Wen) identifies five basic values that influence the choice of routes and the behavior of Chinese tourists: 1) The values of rest and enjoyment of life (Leisure and Life Enjoyment) – values indicating the life aspirations of modern Chinese; 2) Filial Piety and kinship (Filial Piety and Relationship) are instrumental values in the ethics of modern Chinese, reflecting the connection with the virtues of Confucianism; 3) Self-fulfillment – expression modern universal human values; 4) Righteousness or virtue (Rightness); 5) Humanity and humanity (Humanity) – the last two values come from the Confucian virtue of "ren" - one of the qualities of a "noble husband" - humanity, the totality of all kinds of right attitude of a person to another person and society.     Interestingly, researchers during surveys revealed the fact that traditional Chinese values such as hard work, self-discipline, and thrift were not confirmed as key values of tourism. According to researchers, tourism is a borderline state when a person consciously discards the rules and norms of their own society. In other words, Chinese tourists understand travel as a temporary exodus from domestic society, during which they can not adhere to mandatory social norms and requirements. ^[4] Unfavorable reviews of the behavior of Chinese tourists, which have become quite widespread in the public consciousness of countries faced with the influx of tourists from China, are mainly associated with this feature of Chinese value orientations during travel. 

Chinese researchers, analyzing this problem, especially in the aspect of domestic tourism, in order to reduce the number of cases of social anomie on the part of Chinese travelers, turn to another traditional value of Chinese culture – the concept of "face".  The concept of "face" is considered basic to Chinese culture and ethics. A Chinese individual can acquire and maintain a "face" when his behavior meets social expectations, the "face" depends solely on the opinions of other people. The shame of losing face and the pride of gaining face are at the center of the moral obligations of the Chinese and their social behavior. According to Chinese scientists, the subjects of tourism activities should convey to Chinese tourists a clear message that inappropriate behavior will not only lead to the loss of a person's face, but also bring shame on their companies and even the country. ^[5] It should be added that the Chinese should not keep the "face" for everyone, but only for those who belong to the circle of "their own", starting from relatives and then ascending to compatriots. But the discipline and social responsibility of Chinese tourists to the image and honor of their society and the state can become an effective tool to reduce cases of social anomie on the part of Chinese citizens during travel.

International websites and social networks are not popular in the Chinese national Internet segment, and some are simply closed to access. The most popular online resources for sharing travel experiences are: WeChat – the Chinese messaging system has more than a billion monthly active users, in second place is Weibo, a microblogging site with 450 million monthly active users, Mafengwo, Qyer popular blogging sites, often used by tourists, YouKu video portal, where tourists post videos about their travels, an analogue of global YouTube (China Adventure Tourism Market Study //bannikin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bannikin-China-Adventure-Tourism-Report.pdf ).

Other Southeast Asian countries that are identified as potential customers of the Yakut tourism industry: South Korea and Japan have long developed under the strong influence of the Chinese spiritual tradition, so researchers find a lot in common in cultural values and norms in the context of tourism. Tourists from these countries also belong to collectivist countries, so they prefer group tours. Also, according to the typology of Hofstede cultures, the Japanese and Koreans belong to a group of peoples with a high level of avoidance of uncertainty, therefore they try to avoid risky tours, carefully approach the choice of travel, study all points of the route, prefer to seek professional advice from travel companies and more often seek to purchase package tours. As countries with a long power distance, the Japanese and Koreans attach great importance to the quality of service, as they expect service personnel to be treated properly as customers. ^[6] If we turn again to the typology of G. Hofstede, Chinese culture refers to a low level of avoidance of uncertainty. Therefore, unlike, for example, the Japanese, when planning tours, the Chinese prefer to turn to Internet resources in search of information about trips, Chinese social networks and search engines are especially popular, they are less likely to visit tourist destination management organizations, they are more likely to buy a guidebook, consult with friends and family or talk with a tourism specialist (China Adventure Tourism Market Study //bannikin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bannikin-China-Adventure-Tourism-Report.pdf ). And as mentioned above, they are more spontaneous and can make decisions on the spot about changing the route, expand the list of places to visit.

The main problem of the development of winter tours with extreme elements is the problem of providing tourists with clothing appropriate to the climatic conditions of winter Yakutia. For tourists arriving for a short period of time, it is not advisable to spend serious funds on buying warm clothes. The way out, in our opinion, is the manufacture and rental of warm clothes and shoes of large sizes, which can be worn over outerwear: overalls, jackets, warm trousers, mittens. The market of modern fabrics can offer a wide range of synthetic insulation materials: "thinsulate", "primaloft", "shelter", etc., which have proven themselves well in the conditions of Yakut frosts. For example, boots or snow boots made of Eva (ethylene vinyl acetate), a modern polymer material that provides a high level of heat preservation, can be used as winter shoes. Such clothes will be ideal for short routes in nature and walking around the city, even in the lowest temperatures. Additionally, instructions are needed for tourists on the correct combination of the inner layer of clothing, rules for avoiding hypothermia and frostbite. The development of infrastructure for organizing winter adventure tourism with extreme elements for a foreign tourist can also be used to attract a Russian tourist, the main obstacle is transport and price accessibility.

In the global industry of extreme and adventure tourism, 78% of specialists recognize the so-called "word of mouth marketing" as the most effective promotion tools - the dissemination of positive information about routes and forms of travel, subjects of tourist activity, etc. through social networks. Further down the line, industry entities use the following forms and methods of promotion: 52% email mailing, 46% partnership with tour operators, 45% content marketing, 38% advertising on social networks, 36% contextual advertising in the Google search engine, 34% partnership with travel agents, 33% participation in travel exhibitions, 21% media partnership and another 21% advertising in digital media (ADVENTURE TRAVEL INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT. JUNE 2023//learn.adventuretravel.biz/research/2023-adventure-travel-industry-snapshot).

Word of mouth marketing is becoming one of the most effective and efficient marketing tools in the modern tourism industry, and is mainly associated with the growing popularity of social networks on the Internet. Word of mouth marketing is based on the dissemination of positive information about tourist destinations, routes, subjects of tourist activity from client to client, especially the opinion of relatives and acquaintances is preferred. According to a report by Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising, which surveyed more than 28,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries, 92% of consumers worldwide trust the recommendations of friends and family.^[7]

When promoting tourist attractions in Yakutia for the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, along with common forms of promotion of tourist destinations of active tourism, the socio-demographic, psychological and cultural characteristics of tourists should be taken into account. For example, as mentioned above, one of the main popular activities during travel, even a factor for tourists from Southeast Asia to engage in tourism, is the desire to shoot photo and video content for posting on social networks. Scientists associate this hobby with the peculiarities of the Confucian tradition of "face conquest", posts on social networks about interesting places, amazing events that attracted the attention of the audience, increase the social status of a person. ^[8] Therefore, in order to promote extreme tourist routes of the republic, it is necessary to post tourist information about the sights of Yakutia on the Internet resources of Southeast Asian countries, and invite well-known travel bloggers from there. Marketing campaigns will also be relatively economical, within the framework of which you can invite foreign extreme athletes to shoot interesting and attractive video content using Yakut extreme tourism resources: rafting, rock climbing, mountaineering. Or shooting documentaries about extreme and adventure routes, filmed by extreme travelers from the Asia-Pacific countries, to create a so-called "reflection of extreme" by tourists from Southeast Asian countries. Cooperation in the field of advertising shooting with manufacturers of tourist equipment, winter clothing, equipment and equipment for extreme natural conditions, off-road transport, hunting or fishing equipment will be mutually beneficial. For all these events, the republic can choose a location, provide guides, and provide transport logistics, possibly at the expense of the host party. These events should arouse interest in the tourist resources of Yakutia, then the tourists themselves will promote them not only in the market from Southeast Asian countries, but also interest fans of extreme sports and adventures all over the world.

         Thus, in order to offer a competitive product in the extreme tourism market, it is necessary to take into account the influence of cultural values and traditions on motivational attitudes, basic requirements and expectations from extreme tours depending on the region or country. Due to the change in the foreign policy situation in the 20s of the XXI century, as well as the increased flow of Chinese tourists on the international market, the policy of attracting tourists from Southeast Asia is becoming the main and decisive for the development of international tourism in the republic. For the development of mass tourism with extreme elements, it is proposed to use the tourist resources of central Yakutia, where winter, short-term tours can be offered that can meet the needs of foreign, primarily Chinese tourists.