ИСТИНА

Sochi is a unique destination. The combination of the Caucasus and the Black Sea gives the opportunity to develop winter recreation in the mountains and summer activities in the coastal zone in parallel. The largest resort city in Russia, Sochi is also called the summer or «resort capital» of the country. That is why it was chosen as a venue for the Winter Olympics. Sochi evolved as a spa resort in the beginning of the 1900s and gained its specialization as health resort for mass tourism in the 1930s. Consolidation and saturation stages took place in the 1970-80s on the rise of domestic tourism when Sochi turned into a year-round resort for seaside recreation. Sochi went through decline stage in the 1990s but was able to restart when it was awarded with the 2014 Olympics. Now Sochi combines diverse opportunities for tourism development, including events and business tourism. The study focuses on Sochi post-Olympic legacy, its preservation, growth and effective performance. Historical outlook and field studies, statistical and content analysis supported by in-depth interviews of tourism actors reveal the key problems and ways for their solution in the post-Olympic period. Personnel shortage, inadequate price-quality ratio, contrasts between landscaped resort area and urban space are basically reduced. The 2016 season gave a sharp increase in tourist demand. Sochi further development requires additional efforts in marketing promotion, smoothing seasonal fluctuations, organisation of a single resort operating company to manage Olympic facilities exploitation and to elaborate new tourism prospects. Key words: tourism life cycle, Sochi, Olympic Games, legacy