Since the early 90s. The twentieth century, the concept of such a sector of the world economy as tourism, provided for its sustainable development. And today it is one of the most relevant for scientists and practitioners in the field of tourism. The sustainable development paradigm, as a characteristic of the global economy, involves a transition from a consumer model to fully satisfy the increasing needs of tourists to a balanced development of tourism that takes into account the interests of both tourists and future generations, as well as the potential of ecosystems, especially the socio-economic and cultural development of local communities. By virtue of its long-term and comprehensive orientation, this concept turned out to be rather complicated in practical implementation. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) proposed using such a plan for characterizing the industry of the world economy - tourism, which would include a set of key indicators of its sustainable development, including economic, environmental, social and planning block. Since then, these systems have been the subject of study and practical application of an increasing number of individual tourist destinations, entire countries and regions.
When Canada was one of the first countries to publish its own national system of analysis of this industry of the world economy and tourism indicators, this event was enthusiastically received by the tourism community both in Canada and in other countries. The introduction of such a system of tourist indicators has made it possible to comprehensively assess the impact of tourism on the social and cultural life of the country. Using Canada’s national tourism metrics system, there are three primary goals:
1) an assessment of the current state of tourism as a sector of the world economy in Canada;
2) analysis of the main trends in the tourism industry of Canada;
3) support for the development of a strategy for sustainable development of the industry and strategic decision-making.
Another example of the successful implementation of a balanced tourism metrics system at the national level is Tasmania. The introduction of a ten - year strategic plan for the development of tourism as a sector of the world economy on the basis of this system made it possible to increase annual employment in the tourism sector by 25%, the number of tourists by 44% and tourism revenue by 66% over a short period of time.
As world experience shows, the development of tourism is a complex long-term task requiring the involvement of various agents of change at all levels of the tourism industry management system: from tourism enterprises to international tourism associations. The use of balanced scorecard systems allows focusing the efforts of all interested parties on achieving strategic goals that satisfy the interests of tourists, local communities, the tourism industry and the state. Accession to the WTO opens up additional opportunities for improving its own tourism development management system and statistical accounting, which should take into account the best international experience in the development of balanced tourism indicators.
A special place in the implementation of this strategy belongs to the relatively young direction in the development of the industry - agrotourism. The concept of "agritourism" is quite young and is associated with relaxation in the countryside, knowledge of local life, a prerequisite for which is a careful attitude to nature. So, it can be distinguished as a subspecies of ecological tourism, since the organization is based on the principles of sustainable development. Currently, the main resource of agritourism are peasant estates with territories adjacent to them. It should be borne in mind that for the category engaged in agriculture, this type of income will be alternative.
One cannot but mention such an important aspect as pricing. Currently, the small involvement of travel agencies in the creation of an agrotourism product indicates that the creation of a tourism product, and, consequently, the pricing of it, is done by the owners of the estates. And, as practice shows, the price does not always correspond to the level of services offered, which in turn is one of the constraining factors of development. It is necessary to actively involve travel agencies in the formation of agro-tourism services.
Firstly, the travel agency has sufficient information and technologies for the sale of tourism products in this market segment - this is advertising media and a well-developed services market. On the other hand, expanding the package of services will lead to an increase in the duration of the tour. This in turn will have a positive effect on the profits of homeowners. A diversification of the tourism product will lead to an increase in demand and the expansion of its quality component, by attracting different categories of consumers of services.