3 лекция

1. Recreational resources. Abiotic and biotic resources

2.

Lecture outline:
1.Recreational resources and their types. Classification of
recreational resources.
2.Recreational resource capacity.
3.Recreational cadastre.

3.

Natural recreational resources refer to natural phenomena or specific landforms that emerge
within a particular territory and are utilized over a certain timeframe to fulfill recreational or
tourism needs. By extension, this definition also applies directly to historical and cultural
recreational resources, such as architectural monuments, history, and ethnography.
According to P.V. Bolshanik, natural factors serve both as favorable conditions and as actual
resources when organizing leisure activities. Every recreational activity and every cycle of
recreational activities requires optimal environmental factors (natural conditions) to be
realized. The presence of these factors within a given territory over a specific timeframe
determines the extent to which visitors can utilize them. To organize mass recreation, it is first
necessary to identify a large territory with highly favorable natural conditions. Furthermore,
this leisure site must meet the requirements of stationary (permanent) facilities, and these
favorable conditions must persist for as long as possible.
Only when these criteria are met can we shift our focus from evaluating general recreational
conditions to evaluating specific recreational resources (reserves). There is also a distinct
group of natural resources that do not directly participate in the recreational process but are
vital to ensuring the proper functioning of leisure facilities. Additionally, thanks to these
natural recreational resources, natural and socio-technical geosystems acquire favorable
properties that can be utilized in leisure planning.

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When conducting an analysis, assessing socio-historical recreational resources proves more complex
than evaluating natural ones.
Cultural and historical resources primarily encompass cultural objects, monuments, historic zones, and
ethnographic diversity. Moreover, certain socio-economic objects function as both service-providing
conditions and distinct resources during leisure activities.
Consequently, the local population of a destination is also considered an integral part of these
resources.
Recreational resources are classified into three main groups:
• Group A: Intensively utilized resources
• Group B: Extensively utilized resources
• Group C: Unutilized resources

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As new demands emerge among the population, the demand for specific land types changes
accordingly. Summarizing these points, P.V. Bolshanik proposes that recreational resources enable
natural, socio-technical, and socio-economic geosystems—as well as their separate elements—to be
utilized both materially and technically within the recreational economy.
According to the definition provided by T.V. Nikolaenko, recreational resources include environmental
components and sociocultural phenomena that, due to their unique properties, can be utilized in
recreational activities.
Similarly, V.A. Kvartalnov defines recreational resources as a specific subset of tourism resources that
possess favorable conditions and actively contribute to the proper organization of leisure. Another
common definition states that a recreational resource is the sum of natural complexes and naturalcultural objects that positively affect human health, aid in physical recovery, and foster spiritual wellbeing.
Finally, according to N.S. Mironenko, a recreational resource is any natural phenomenon or object
resulting from human activity that can be utilized for medical treatment, tourism, and leisure.

6.

Recreational resources are natural, cultural, social, and economic assets used to
restore human physical and spiritual strength through tourism, sports, and relaxation.
Natural Recreational Resources
These elements are formed by nature and serve as the foundation for health resorts,
ecotourism, and active sports.
• Water Resources (Hydrographic): Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.
• Climatic & Therapeutic Resources: Areas with unique microclimates, mineral
springs, and therapeutic muds.
• Examples: The pine forests and tectonic lakes of Borovoye (Burabay), located not
far from the Esil basin, are world-renowned for health spas and sanatoriums.
• Landscape & Wildlife Resources: National parks, mountains, and forests ideal for
trekking, mountaineering, and wildlife watching.
• Examples: The Katon-Karagay National Park in the Altai Mountains (where the
Irtysh originates) provides vast resources for alpine tourism and eco-travel

7.

Cultural-Historical Recreational Resources
These are man-made attractions that drive cultural tourism, sightseeing, and educational travel.
• Architectural Landmarks: Ancient and modern cities, monuments, and archaeological sites.
• Ethno-Cultural Resources: Traditional lifestyles, folklore, festivals, and culinary heritages that allow
tourists to experience local traditions.
• Natural Recreational Resources
• Elements of nature that can be used for health, healing, and leisure.
• Climatic: Solar radiation, clean air, favorable temperatures (used for aerotherapy,
climate resorts).
• Hydrographic (Water): Rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and therapeutic muds/springs.
• Orographical (Relief): Mountains, canyons, caves, and scenic landscapes ideal for skiing
or climbing.
• Biological: Forests, national parks, flora, and fauna providing opportunities for hunting,
fishing, or ecotourism.

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• Anthropogenic / Cultural-Historical Resources: Man-made objects that possess cultural,
educational, or aesthetic value
• Archaeological: Ancient ruins, burial mounds, and excavations.
• Architectural: Castles, palaces, modern city centers (e.g., Downtown Astana), and religious
buildings.
• Event-based: Festivals, sports events (Olympics), carnivals, and exhibitions

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By Functional Type of Recreation (По функциональному назначению)
This classification groups resources based on how a person restores their energy and well-being.
• Medical-Sanatorium (Лечебно-курортные): Resources used for healing under medical supervision
(e.g., mineral waters, thermal springs, spa resorts).
• Health and Fitness (Оздоровительные): Areas suitable for mass leisure and simple physical
recovery (e.g., public beaches, city parks, hiking trails).
• Sporting and Active (Спортивно-туристские): Challenging natural environments required for active
or extreme sports (e.g., fast rivers for rafting, steep mountains for climbing, snowy slopes for skiing).
• Educational / Sightseeing (Познавательные): High concentrations of historical landmarks,
museums, and galleries used for intellectual recreation

10.

By Spatial Distribution & Location
Resources are categorized according to where they are located and how they interact with urban
environments.
• Urban Resources: Parks, sports arenas, entertainment hubs, and riversides inside city boundaries
• Suburban / Regional Resources: Weekend destinations within a 1-3 hour drive from major cities
(reservoirs, suburban forests).
• Remote / Rural Resources: Untouched wilderness, remote national parks, and alpine areas used for
long-term vacations and serious ecotourism

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12.

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Recreational resource capacity.
Recreational resource capacity (most commonly referred to in modern land and tourism
management as recreational carrying capacity) is the maximum level of visitor use an area can
sustain without causing permanent degradation to the natural environment or a decline in the quality
of the visitor experience.
Land management agencies and environmental scientists break this concept down into four
interrelated dimensions:
The Four Dimensions of Carrying Capacity
• Physical Capacity (PCC): The absolute limit of space available. It is dictated by physical constraints,
such as the number of parking spaces, campsite plots, or the actual acreage of a beach.
• Ecological/Environmental Capacity (ECC): The threshold beyond which visitor traffic causes
unacceptable or irreversible damage to the ecosystem. Exceeding this leads to soil erosion, water
pollution, destruction of flora, and wildlife displacement.
• Social/Psychological Capacity (SCC): The crowding limit from a human perspective. It is the point
where the number of visitors impairs the quality of the recreation experience (e.g., hikers seeking
solitude in the backcountry being disrupted by heavy foot traffic and noise).
• Facility/Managerial Capacity (FCC): The ability of man-made infrastructure to handle the volume of
visitors. This includes the capacity of restrooms, waste management systems, paved walkways, and
staffing levels.

14.

15.

These resources possess several distinct characteristics:
1.Historical Evolution: Their forms shift over time based on changing recreational needs, as well as
technical, economic, and social capacities. For example, old industrial facilities and vintage
machinery can eventually transform into recreational resources.
2.Spatial Extent: They occupy vast spatial areas. Recreation is considered a socio-economic activity
that requires extensive land, comparable in size to the territories occupied by agriculture and
forestry.
3.Organizational Function: They serve organizational purposes, fostering the development of
specialized recreational nodes, districts, and zones.
* Recreational resources are divided into two primary types: natural and cultural-historical.
• Natural recreational resources encompass natural-territorial complexes along with their specific
attributes and components—such as attractiveness, uniqueness, landscape diversity, the size and
shape of geographical objects, and scenic visibility.
• Cultural-historical resources include:
• Tangible (Material): Materials of production and the physical assets of society, such as historical
monuments and cultural heritage sites.
• Intangible (Spiritual): Society’s achievements in state and public life, science, culture, and the arts.

16.

Resource Capacity and Environmental Pressures
Recreational resources possess the property of carrying capacity. This is defined as the ability to
withstand a specific level of anthropogenic pressure and accommodate a certain volume of
recreationists while maintaining ecological balance.
Managing this capacity requires establishing specific standards:
• Anthropogenic Pressure: This measures the impact of excursion activities and hiking on
biogeocenoses to prevent the degradation of the surrounding ecological conditions.
• Maximum Permissible Pressure: These are anthropro-ecological norms that define the threshold
beyond which the stability of various geosystems breaks down, ultimately threatening human
health.
The capacity of natural resources is closely linked to the concept of recreational potential.
Recreational potential represents the ratio between the actual and potential number of tourists an
area can sustain based on its volume of resources. It is measured by an area's ability to host a
specific number of visitors without disrupting environmental and ecological stability.

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Furthermore, recreational resources embody socio-cultural space and temporal relativity,
reflecting diverse natural and cultural environments. To be classified as a recreational
resource, a location must meet the following criteria:
1.The territory must offer an environment that is distinct from a person's everyday living
conditions.
2.It must present a harmonious combination of one or several natural environmental
factors.
Recreational resources are generated by public demand and are deeply intertwined with the
socio-cultural development of a territory. Visitor flows are concentrated in developed
regions, where the most significant and prestigious recreational resources are recognized by
collective consciousness. However, once a territory reaches its maximum development
threshold, its raw recreational resources begin to diminish. While some recreational assets
never lose their value, they can never be fully restored to their original state once overexploited.
The socio-cultural necessity to develop a territory is the primary driving force behind
transforming land into a recreational resource. In this sense, a recreational resource acts as
a "shifting point" (dynamic baseline) that reflects the comprehensive development process
of a space.

18.

Special attributes of tourism resources include their integrity, dynamism, capacity, stability,
reliability, and attractiveness:
• Integrity binds all resources together, linking dining facilities, the hotel economy, and
transport infrastructure.
• Capacity connects tourism with other sectors of the economy. On a national scale, the
stability of tourism resources ensures that economic linkages remain uninterrupted.
Favorable natural conditions and resources that are otherwise underutilized in the
national economy can be harnessed effectively by the tourism industry; thus, their crosssectoral interests align.
• Reliability in the tourism sector is primarily dictated by socio-political stability.
• Attractiveness is the core property of any tourism resource, as it creates the actual
objects of tourist sightseeing. The uniqueness of an attraction draws visitors from all
corners of the globe, granting the site a global status

19.

Classification Frameworks and User Demands
N.P. Krachilo classifies the entire complex of tourism resources into three main groups:
1.Natural: Climate, water resources, mineral springs, therapeutic muds, topography, caves,
flora, fauna, natural monuments, nature reserves, picturesque landscapes, and unique
natural landmarks.
2.Cultural-Historical: Museums, exhibitions, theaters, archaeological sites, historical and
architectural monuments, ethnographic features, folklore, and centers of applied arts.
3.Socio-Economic: Economic-geographic location, transport accessibility, regional economic
development levels, modern and prospective spatial planning, public service standards,
labor resources, demographic characteristics, and the development level of the transport
network.

20.

A recreational cadastre is an official, systematically organized database or registry that contains
quantitative and qualitative assessments of a region's recreational resources. It evaluates both natural
features and historical-cultural assets to determine their economic, ecological, and social value for
tourism development.
A standard recreational cadastre is organized into several core categories:
Structure of a Recreational Cadastre
• Natural Resource Inventory: Detailed data on climate, topography, water bodies (lakes, rivers, mineral
springs), forests, and beaches suitable for leisure, sports, or medical rehabilitation.
• Historical and Cultural Assets: A registry of architectural monuments, archaeological sites, museums,
and ethnographic points of interest.
• Infrastructure and Superstructure: Records of existing accommodations (hotels, resorts,
sanatoriums), transport networks, utilities, and emergency services available in the area.
• Ecological and Medical Evaluation: Information regarding the therapeutic properties of the
environment (e.g., air purity, balneological resources) alongside environmental vulnerability
assessments to prevent resource degradation.
• Legal and Economic Status: Documentation of land ownership, zoning laws, conservation restrictions
(like national park boundaries), and economic feasibility metrics for future investment.

21.

In Kazakhstan, recreational cadastres are regulated under two unified legal frameworks: the State
Land Cadastre and the State Cadastre of Specially Protected Natural Areas. Instead of existing as a
standalone document, information regarding recreational resources is fully integrated into the
nation’s Unified State Real Estate Cadastre to manage tourism zoning, spatial planning, and legal
land allocation.
The legal, environmental, and regional structures governing the recreational cadastre system in
Kazakhstan operate as follows:
1. Legal Foundations (The Kazakh Land Code)
• Official Category Designation: According to Article 126 of the Land Code of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, specific plots are explicitly designated as recreational lands. These are legally reserved
for organized mass public recreation, leisure infrastructure, and regional tourism.
• Allowed Infrastructure: The registry tracks specific tourist properties built on these lands, including
hotels, resorts, health sanatoriums, eco-lodges, campsites, and designated hiking trails.
• Zoning Restrictions: Activities that do not align with the intended recreational purpose of the land
plot are legally prohibited under the land code

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2. Environmental & Carrying Capacity Tracking
• Protected Area Cadastre: For high-volume eco-tourism destinations (such as Burabay, Ile-Alatau, or
Charyn National Park), the cadastre functions via the Adilet Legal Information System to enforce
strictly allocated tourist zones.
• Preservation Limits: It lists observation platforms, parking boundaries, and designated paths. This
allows park rangers to restrict tourism activities dynamically if they breach local ecological or
environmental safety limits.
3. Geographical Cadastral Clusters
When regional government offices compile local resource inventories, they classify Kazakhstan’s
recreational assets into four main geographic zones:
• Northern & Central Region: Focused heavily on climate-based resources, lakes, and balneological
sanatorium databases (e.g., the Shchuchinsk-Borovoye resort zone).
• Southern Region: Contains a high density of registered historical-cultural monuments (such as the
Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkistan) alongside mountain tourism resources in the
Almaty alpine zone.
• Eastern Region: Contains registries of pristine forest biomes, high-altitude trails, and eco-tourism
potential surrounding the Altai Mountains.
• Western Region: Centered around coastal health resorts and beach recreation resources along the
Caspian Sea (Aktau) and unique geological landscapes in Mangystau.