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Nikolay Timchenko, CEO of the Strategic Development Agency “CENTER,” spoke at the session “The Future of Domestic Tourism in Russia: What You Need to Know Today”, held within the forum “Russia Inside: Preparing Personnel for Domestic Tourism” on March 5. The event was part of the XII Moscow International Education Fair (MMSO.EXPO-2025).

Experts estimate that domestic tourism is currently among the fastest-growing sectors of the Russian economy. At the same time, as noted by the session moderator, MMSO Director and founder of MMSO.Connect, Maxim Kazarnovsky, “Tourism education has always lagged behind the industry’s development, and now this gap is widening even faster.”

According to various estimates, the shortage of personnel in the Russian tourism sector could reach between 400,000 and two million people by 2030. To develop systemic solutions to this problem, specialists from MMCO and the Center for Skills and Professional Education Development at the National Research University Higher School of Economics prepared an analytical report titled “An Industry Approach to Workforce Training in Domestic Tourism”, presented by the Center’s director, Vera Maltseva. She emphasized that industry experts made a significant contribution to the research.

Among those who shared their insights on the situation and potential solutions during the preparation of the report was Nikolay Timchenko. According to his assessment, as recorded in the study:

"Educational institutions that train personnel for the tourism sector, despite their best efforts, cannot fully meet the industry’s demand for staff. The tourism and hospitality industry will actively attract graduates from history departments, educators, psychologists, and, of course, geographers. Anything that can be applied to this sector will be used to the fullest extent."

During the session, the expert shared the Agency’s experience. “One of the tasks that has come to the forefront today is the training of ‘experience producers’ — specialists capable of developing new tourist routes. There are currently insufficient practitioners of this profile in our country. This requires interdisciplinary expertise, which no single education program fully provides.

Short-term intensive programs in additional education or professional development, which cultivate a creative approach to understanding and leveraging the potential of different regions, could help solve this challenge. For our part, we have acted as developers of Accelerators for the Strategic Development Agency, designing conceptual tourist routes in regions of the Russian Federation (‘Discover Your Russia’) and creating tourist-recreational clusters and developing ecotourism in Russia. These programs are freely available on the NTI 2035 University platform. The accelerators were accompanied by nationwide competitions in which teams competed for support for their tourism projects. Experience has shown these programs to be highly effective. We need to reorient our sectoral training system toward fostering design thinking and producing new creators for the industry.”

The report by MMCO and HSE reflects the sector’s demand for new competencies, such as “experience producers” or territorial architects. This work received high praise during the session from Christofor Konstantinidi, Head of the International Analytical Center for Sustainable Tourism Development at RUDN University, Chair of the Sustainable Tourism Committee of the CIS Business Center, and expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Lomonosov Moscow State University Center for Sustainable Development Management. According to him, the research demonstrates a rigorous methodological approach, reflects key trends, and can be used to attract new talent to the industry.

Irina Mironova, Director of Federal Project Implementation at the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, also shared her experience in organizing training programs in the tourism sector. According to her, in 2023–2024, more than 1,000 participants from management teams in over 200 Russian cities took part in the school’s “Hospitable Cities” project, preparing long-term tourism development strategies for their territories. These projects are now beginning to be implemented.

 More details about the event: https://mmco-expo.ru

Photo: MMCO, Education Salon