Tourism and recreation in the Belgorod region are not the leading industry of specialization, but their development is due to the need of the population to meet their recreational needs in daily and weekly recreation. The recreational economy of the Belgorod region is in the process of its development and needs a comprehensive study. Cartographic modeling allows you to get a comprehensive picture. The purpose of this article is to study the evolution of the tourist and recreational system of the old-developed region. In this article, the methods of cartographic modeling and context analysis and the comparative geographical method of research were used. The study is based on the following materials: the materials of the Belgorod regional Committee of State Statistics, reports and official publications of the Department of economic development of the Belgorod region, Committee for Culture, The Center of Youth Tourism, local history and literature, publications of experts in the field of recreation geography. The article considers the territorial structure of recreational facilities in the Belgorod region in different historical periods, the role of cartographic modeling and the possibility of its use in the study of dynamics of development of territorial and functional structure of the Belgorod tourist-recreational system. The problems hindering the use of cartographic modeling in recreational research of the region were identified.