Yaroslavl is an important tourist center. It possess completely formed brand on the domestic tourism market. According opinion poll findings the majority of tourism product consumers in Yaroslavl associate it with the historical city. For the guests of Yaroslavl the brand of the historical city is disclosed through status of its center as the UNESCO World Heritage site, an outstanding complex of religious architecture of the XVII century, a preserved architectural and urban complex of the XIX-early XX centuries. However, the construction of new buildings or radical rebuilding of historic houses continues even in the UNESCO area. It destroys the uniqueness and complexity of the housing development in the city center, which are the main distinctive features of Yaroslavl as a historical city. The loss of historicity of environment is irretrievable. It leads to the loss of the competitive advantages of Yaroslavl. The city owes the merchants values making it attractive for tourists. The merchants determined the social economic and spiritual life of the city for several centuries. Business skills of Yaroslavl merchants, their everyday life, tastes and relationship with the Church had formed a unique historical image of the city. Yaroslavl needs a strategy of the brand development that will take into account the existing image of the city and include the development of the most advantageous positions both in the present and in the past. Merchants with their history should become an important component of the brand of Yaroslavl.