Researchers of the Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service of South Ural State University created the first textbook of its kind for Russian specialists in the field of tourism and service, which will help organize and develop a promising tourist direction in our country.
The global timeshare industry originates in Europe in the sixties of the 20th century. Timeshare is a multi-owner property in which a person pays for an annual vacation in a specific place for a certain period of time. The right to use the apartment, received from its main owner, provides a real opportunity to have a “temporary home” with all the amenities, service and hotel treatment at your favourite resort without large expenses on a second property.
Today, timesharing is a relatively new phenomenon in Russia. It appeared in our country in the 1990s, but never took root for political and economic reasons.
“Currently, timesharing is rarely studied at Russian universities, there are no textbooks on it, except for one monograph published in 2003, which focuses on the American market,” says Associate Professor of the SUSU Department of Tourism and Socio-Cultural Service Natalia Tarkhanova. “All over the world, approaches to organizing timesharing have long changed due to new trends: artificial intelligence, online booking of apartments, and so on. We strive to update and develop this industry in Russia, taking into account the Russian mentality, ideas about service and hospitality, and regulatory provisions on tourism, so that it becomes the most comfortable tourist product for Russians. We developed the first real textbook for students on the development of timesharing in the Russian Federation. The publication was collected literally bit by bit from closed sources of relevant knowledge in the field of tourism business.”
The unique educational manual “Organization of Tourism Industry: Timesharing Vacation in the Global Vacation Ownership Industry”, which is compiled in accordance with the requirements of the state educational standard of universities, sets out the fundamental concepts of the theory and practice of the global vacation ownership industry. The book examines the infrastructure of timesharing accommodation facilities, service standards and timesharing management issues, including marketing, management of resort management companies, and organization of sales of resort services. A separate chapter is devoted to the prospects of development of timesharing in the Russian Federation.
“Our textbook also provides information on cultural and leisure programs offered in timesharing, which is exactly what we [in Russia] have a big problem with," says Associate Professor of the SUSU Department of Tourism and Socio-Cultural Service Tatiana Bai. “We compiled universal programs that can be easily adapted to any Russian resort. In general, in the current conditions, the hotel industry requires specialists who are competent in any tourist area. When you come to try your hand at working in a chain hotel, it is one thing, but when you come to a city hotel, the requirements are completely different, and especially when we talk about country house hotels and health resorts. Therefore, our task was to prepare not just a manual, but an educational product that will help future specialists adapt to constantly changing conditions and be an all-round staff member.”
Two versions of this unique textbook are presented: for institutions of both higher education and secondary vocational education. The content of both textbooks is similar, but for college students in tourism fields of study, the manual is focused on practice, in contrast to the more theoretical and extensive manual for universities; it also differs from the second one by a simplified presentation of the material.
At SUSU, the new textbook (which will be available in both hard-copy and electronic formats) will start to be used in classes for first-year students in September as part of the World Industry of Leisure Owning semester discipline. The materials of the book will also be useful for second- and third-year students of the Department of Tourism and Socio-Cultural Service when writing course papers and diploma works. The Department graduates will master the competencies of organizing, developing and promoting timesharing in the Russian tourism market in the context of various political and economic conditions.
Ekaterina Bolnykh