Ural Federal University: University Students Won All-Russian Olympiad in Service and Tourism

Third-year students of the Tourism direction of the Ural Institute of Humanities at Ural Federal University won the All-Russian Olympiad in service and tourism (with international participation), the finals of which were held in the North-Caucasus Federal University.

The Ural Federal University team “Mayonnaise Paradise” took first place, presenting a project of a teenage camp in the Caucasus. They beat out representatives of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Russian State University if Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Russian State University for the Humanities, RUDN University, and other universities.

The team included Aleksandr Osintsev and Ksenia Shuleva, winners of the regional student project competition “The Beautiful Tourist Urals”, Alina Hisameeva, an experienced methodologist of the Flame educational team, Elizaveta Dryagina, marketing expert, Anna Kuznetsova, infrastructure facilities specialist, and Ekaterina Evstafieva, visual manager.

The students worked with competent mentors such as Dmitry Bugrov and Ekaterina Chilova, professors of the Department of Social and Cultural Service and Tourism. The consultants were well-known professionals in the tourism industry – Irina Shehovtsova (tour center ” YUVA”) and Anton Potapov (international tour operator “Europort”), who devoted many hours to creative discussions with students and examination of their proposals.

The Olympiad consisted of two stages, involving individual and team formats, in which 450 specialists participated. The winners spent several months studying the tourist resources of the distant Elbrus region, delving into the legal framework, arguing about how to form and market a competitive and attractive product, in order to finally present the best among the entries.