Tourism plays an important role in shaping the sustainable development of territories, contributing to the creation of jobs, attracting monetary capital and promoting cultural exchange between countries. Some of the developed countries are implementing a new strategy that creates unique innovative projects that combine developers, architects, culture and art, heritage, nature and tourism into a single concept. The study proposes a strategy for attracting tourist traffic in the Russian Federation with the help of a comprehensive cultural development on the example of the rising mega-market of Abu Dhabi. The development strategy of Abu Dhabi is analyzed piecemeal and presented in the form of a model-scheme. Next, this model is described on a specific example of the development of the island of as-Saadiyat. The SWOT analysis allows us to highlight the advantages of this strategy and assess the level of impact of threats and shortcomings on the Russian economy. As a result, based on the analyzed data, options for adapting the strategy for 3 types of Russian cities are proposed: resort city, new city, megapolis.