Educational Tourism as an Outlook Component of the Marketing and Operational Strategy of a Modern Educational Organization

The chapter is devoted to the problems of educational tourism. The attempt to combine the two concepts of “education” and “tourism” and to determine the degree of significance of each, the goals and motivation of the participants, the expediency or inexpediency of defining time limits, and the formality of the approach to the educational process itself led to a vigorous debate in the scientific field of academic research related to this topic. In the context of the study the author considers educational tourism as an educational experience organized and managed by educational institutions, carried out outside the home geographical environment from 24 hours to 12 months. In this context, foreign students are considered a niche segment that can be regarded as educational or academic tourists since their overall experience of staying in a destination includes a tourist component. The author notes that, regardless of the time-of-stay of foreign students in the host country, the tourism component should always be taken into account by educational institutions. Moreover, it can be concluded that universities, as regional educational hubs, can increase the potential of educational tourism destinations. The author notes the indisputable need for further academic research on educational tourism, including the assessment of determinants and the construction of models of the demand for educational tourism, as well as the search for new forms and opportunities for Russian students.