Abstract:

The paper considers possibilities of using interdisciplinary business games to form professional competences of young specialists in tourism industry. Tourism has always been a unique industry, offering opportunities for businesses of all sizes. The contemporary tourism industry is a field of very high risks, with any delay involving very high potential costs. Working in tourism requires strong business skills, a willingness to undertake regular training, industry experience and specific personal attributes including people skills (particularly customer service), communication and management skills, the ability to work under pressure, open-mindedness and sensitivity to people with different needs or from different social and cultural backgrounds, problem-solving skills, enthusiasm and energy.

At all stages of specialized education, a particular importance should be given to the formation of young specialists’ understanding of the primary objectives of the tourism industry – fully satisfaction of the consumer’s needs and desires (Marcelle & Ivev, 2006). In this regard, the ability and desire to continue to evolve in practice gains a particular importance, since one of the specific features of the industry is the constant movement forward causing changes in conditions, laws, rules, and ever-rising intensity of labor, increased competition and inevitable diversification of customers’ needs.

Business game is an effective method of training as it removes the contradiction between the abstract nature of the educational process and the actual conditions of professional activity. It is the game that helps to simulate business situations, which usually require multi-disciplinary knowledge, skills, and cannot be worked out in the framework of a single discipline (Trybus, 2012).

Business game is a set of active learning methods including discussions, brainstorming, case studies, actions following instructions, analysis of client applications, claims handling, etc. Business games can be used for interactive classes both within a single discipline, and a block of logically dependent subjects. It is also possible to hold inter-department business games with students of different specialties (Blanchard, 2013).

Business games as a training tool play an important role in all spheres of business education but their role in service spheres including tourism and hospitality industries is most significant as they involve communication – the core of servicing and service industries.

When involved in business games, students can express and shape their preferences – when they take their internship, they are given tasks and duties and have very little choice. But when taking part in business games, students can choose their roles involving particular duties and communicative partners. In this way they have more opportunities, they can put several hats on their heads identifying their own preferences and choosing particular spheres of future professional involvement.

Projecting of major areas of tourist activities allows forming young specialists’ professional competences and identifying their preferences.
The author offers a project of simulating industrial technological processes during business games organized and held at Moscow State Institute for Tourism Industry n. a. Yu. Senkevich.

Keywords:

Professional orientation, up-to-date methods of interactive teaching, business game, travel agency, project presentation, winners in certain categories.