Timakova Rosa Temeryanovna Scientific adviser, professor of the department of tourism business and hospitality, doctor of technical sciences, associate professor

International Tourism and Hospitality Startup Competition for the Youth – ProTourism2023 (hereinafter referred to as the Competition) is organized and held by the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education – Ural State University of Economics (USUE).

The purpose of the Competition is to intensify the professional research work among the students of higher educational institutions and colleges, to acquire practical experience and skills in developing START-UP projects in the tourism, hospitality and food industries within the framework of a competitive market, as well as to identify and support the talented young scientists and to assist the formation and promotion of youth tourism business projects, business projects in the hotel and restaurant industry through interaction with industry professionals.

The objectives of the competition:

• to discover young people talented in the field of designing enterprises of the tourism industry, hospitality and catering;
• to assist the formation and promotion of youth business projects through interaction with professional communities in the field of tourism, hospitality and the food industry;
• to increase interest and involvement of young people (including students) in entrepreneurial activity, to develop and implement modern and innovative projects in the sphere of domestic and inbound tourism, the hospitality and catering industry development in the Russian Federation;
• to popularize tourist and recreational opportunities of the Russian Federation;
• to support the scientific and practical development of young people talented in the field of tourism, hospitality and catering.

The participants of the Competition are students and undergraduates of colleges, universities, research institutes, as well as from other interested organizations without degrees under the age of 25. Participants of the Competition can be both individual participants and groups of developers consisting of up to 3 persons.

The competition will be held in the form of presentation of initiative projects aimed at the implementation of business ideas as well as business concepts aimed at the creation and development of organizations in the HoReCa and tourism industry, which will be examined and evaluated by leading practitioners, heads of hospitality industry enterprises and public authorities.

START-UP projects should be initiated and developed on the basis of preliminary research and scientific understanding of the existing problems in the services market in the tourism, hospitality and catering industry, as well as on the creative application of knowledge and skills in the professional service areas of the Competition. There is no registration fee for participation in the Competition. 

Projects for the Competition should be presented in the following subject areas:

1. tourism;
2. hospitality;
3. food industry. 

Applications for the participation in the Competition and competitive projects in the form of a START-UP project should be submitted before the 20^th of March 2023 through the registration system on the website:

• an individual participant should submit his application through the registration system on the website, choosing the category “Individual participation”;
• Group participation. Each group member should submit an application for his/her participation through the registration system on the website, choosing the category "team participation", then "team captain" or "team member". In the field "Subject matter" each member should indicate the project name. The team captain should attach to the registration form a file with the project, indicating all the authors.

Lists of the competition finalists, who will be invited to the public presentation of their works and participation in the final events of the Forum, will be published on the competition webpage from the 1^st of April 2023 until the 10^th of April 2023.

The public presentation will take place on the 26^th of April 2023 from 10:30 to 17:00. The award ceremony will take place on the 27^th of April 2023.

The final competition will be held in person. In some cases, by the decision of the competition organizing committee, remote participation can also be possible.

Registered participants and experts will get access to USUE cloud resources via the MS Office 365 platform and will be able to join the interactive sessions as part of the organized events through teams created in MicrosoftTeams.

The winners in each of the four subject areas of the Competition will be awarded diplomas, medals and cash prizes:

• 1^st place – 10 000 rubles

The runner-ups in each subject area will be awarded diplomas and medals.

The winners of the Competition, awarded the 1st degree Diplomas, will receive points for individual achievements at the admission to USUE for master's programs (2 points). Points will be valid during 2 years following the year of the awarding.