The relevance of the topic. Tourism is one of the promising areas of socio-economic development in Russia. Such a type of tourist recreation as rural tourism is just beginning to become popular and so far its share in the structure of Russian tourist activity is low, but the emerging trends currently allow us to determine the growing interest in rural tourism, the attractiveness of which is primarily due to the price factor. Goal. The study of new trends and opportunities for the development of rural tourism in the structure of the Russian economy over the past few years. Methodology. The methodology of the study is a statistical method for analyzing data from subjects of the Russian Federation providing rural tourism services. The method of comparative analysis is used in the conclusions when summarizing the results of the study of problems and prospects for improving rural tourism. Results and conclusions. The result of the study is to build a rating of the ten leading regions of Russia for the development of rural tourism. The analysis of scientific papers and regulatory documents in the field of rural tourism allowed us to identify the main problems and, in conclusion, formulate conclusions and proposals on the prospects for the development of rural tourism in the Russian Federation. The scope of application. Regional programs and projects for the development of rural tourism in the regions of Russia.
