RESUMO
UNLABELLED: The correction and optimization of the motor activity of the patients are currently the main priorities of all rehabilitative and recreational activities based at the spa and health resort facilities. The forms of such activities include walking tours and excursion trips. In other words, the excursion potential is one of the very important attributes of the recreational recourses. Under the current conditions characterized by the rapid socio-economic changes, the studies concerning the structural and functional transformation of spa and health resorts, recreational and tourist facilities acquire special importance, both from the humanitarian and economic points of view. The results of these studies may greatly contribute to the organization and the further development of rehabilitative and recreational activities based at the spa and health resort facilities, recreational and tourist centers taking into consideration their evolution. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The objective of the present article is to analyze the structure and functions of the recreation and tourist centres as well as the modes of their cooperation with the spa and health resort facilities. In other words, these structures and their functions are both the object and the subject of the present study. The methodology of the study is based on the logical analysis of the development of the recreational and tourist systems in the framework of the evolutionary approach. RESULTS: (1) the notions of «tourist destination¼ and «recreation¼ have been substantiated; (2) the results of the studies carried out at the Institute of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Petrozavodsk State University have been used to elaborate the affiliate international Master Degree program «Project management in the tourism industry¼. The main emphasis in this program is placed on the necessity and methods of the improvement of recreational activities and more efficacious utilization of the climatic factors and the health resort infrastructure as well as personnel training for the sake of improvement of services to the visitors. CONCLUSION: The analysis of various aspects of recreation and tourism development has demonstrated that the services provided by the recreational and tourist systems in cooperation with the health resort infrastructure open up new employment opportunities and thus reduce the risk of social tension. The prospects for the continuation of investigations along these lines are associated with the extension of the recreational and touristic activities over the rural and countryside localities with special reference to the trans-border interactions as well as specific features of the tourist and recreational resources of the given regions and territories.