INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES INFLUENCE ON THE TOURISM SPECIALIST’S PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE FORMATION

Abstract

Objective. The article is devoted to the study of the influence of information and communication technologies on the formation of professional competence of specialists in the field of tourism. The author studies the conditions under which the tourism market’s need for specialists who possess a high level of professional competence, professional mobility, and the ability to adapt to the conditions of professional activity through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) will be solved. The need for a systematic approach to the problem is substantiated through the development of a structural-functional model of the process of formation of professional competence of specialists in the field of tourism by means of information and communication technologies. Methods. The main research methods of the process of formation of professional competence by means of information and communication technologies are: the abstract-logical method for determining the main problematic issues of the formation of professional competence; modeling method for developing a structural-functional model of the process of formation of professional competence of tourism specialists by means of information and communication technologies. Results. In the context of the research, the essense of the process of formation of the professional competence of the individual is defined and clarified. The concept of “professional competence of tourism specialists” is clarified as an integrative quality, which comprises the level of masterying professional knowledge, abilities, skills and is considered as a process of the subject’s conscious management of his activities and behaviour in accordance with universal value orientations. It is emphasized that the development of information and communication technologies contributes to the modernization of the modern system of tourism education. It goes about distance education as a system of knowledge transfer with the help of various means and technologies and the formation of the students’ skills to use the necessary information in practical professional activities. The author’s definition of the concept of “professional competence of tourism specialists” is presented, which consists in that in the conditions of a computer-oriented information and communication environment. Structural components of the process of formation of professional competence, its content, components are defined. The author has developed a structural and functional model of the process of formation of professional competence of tourism specialists. The structural components of the model and their content are defined.