Introduction. The development of tourism in the Russian Federation is currently being positioned as a priority target for the government. The work of various state, municipal, public organizations and business structures was aimed at the solution of this problem, and due to it a number of regions of the Russian Federation have made significant progress in increasing domestic and inbound tourist traffic over the recent years. The other part of the regions and republics is still only at the beginning of this path, either in finding a niche in the tourist activity, or at the stage of developing and testing a new tourist product.

Sustainable operation and development of any industry is impossible without well-timed training of specialists. The system of personnel training can be described as a multifunctional complex consisting of bodies of different departmental subordination, bound by common goals and objectives for non-repetitive professional training and education of specialists of various qualifications in one or another field of activity.

Rapidly evolving domestic tourism actualizes the task of expanding the variability of the training of qualified personnel. In this regard, the modern system of training specialists for the tourism industry should be oriented towards the continuous development, improvement and the desire to improve the quality of the services offered. Every year, in many regions of the country, including those separated from tourist centers, there is a growing need for professional training, retraining and upgrading of skills for existing and emerging tourism firms, leisure enterprises, hotel and entertainment facilities, to service new types of tourism and recreation.

The goal of the work is to reveal the problems of professional education in tourism at the regional level.

Theoretical basis of the research. The information for the study is based on the official statistical materials, provided by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, the Federal Agency for Tourism, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation; the Federal state educational standard of secondary vocational education on specialty 100401 − Tourism; the Federal state educational standards of higher education for Program 100400 / 43.03.02 − Tourism; The results of empirical studies published in open media reports, on the Internet.

Methods of research – theoretical analysis of psychological, pedagogical and methodical literature on the topic of the research; study and analysis of the state of the current problem, the modern pedagogical process, documents, normative and legislative acts in the tourist industry and in the education system; advanced pedagogical experience; generalization; classification; systematization.

Analysis of the research and publications shows that now special focus is given to the problem of youth employment. The works of the following foreign scientists are dedicated to professional training of specialists in the field of tourism: A. Abouville (2000), M. Bartell (1990), U. Rankl (2003), Riley, M., Ladkin, A., & Szivas, E. (2002). Ankomah, P., & Crompton, J. (1990), Ross, G.F. (1992), Sola, E. F. (2002), Smith, D., & Ewing, R. (2002) [6-12].

Main part. According to statistics of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency, at present, about 50 thousand people are working in the sphere of tourism in Russia [1]. In the middle of 2014, there was a tendency for the growth of the employed population, in comparison with 2013, by almost 25%. In the beginning of 2015, according to the survey of leaders of tourists’ enterprises, the growth in the number of people employed in the tourist sector has stopped, this is explained by the peculiarities of Russia's socioeconomic development struck by sanctions.

In the XXI century, the formation of the system of vocational training has become an important vector in the development of national and world economy, as well as a significant socio-cultural phenomenon as a regional and international activity. The tourism sphere successfully forms its socio-pedagogical and culturally historical space. A tough competition established on tourism market forces employers to pay close attention to the availability of the professional education of their employees. This also explains the increase in demand for highly-educated young professionals.

With the development of the tourism industry, the need for qualified personnel has grown. However, Russian universities mainly specialize in the training of tourism managers. The leading institutions here are: the non-governmental specialized Russian International Academy of Tourism (RIAT). On the second place is the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality (at the MSU of Service) and the Institute of Hospitality and Tourism of the Russian Peoples' Friendship University (RPFU). However, at the same time, a large number of universities, both state and non-state, produce travel managers (ppfig. 1).

The problem of quality of preparation of the personnel for the tourist industry is becoming increasingly important, as the creation and promotion of the recreational product, both on the domestic and international tourist market, is impossible without highly qualified personnel, as well as the formation and development of a specialized system of tourism education [5].

Fig. 1. Distribution of vacancies by headings in the tourism section [3]

Рис. 1. Распределение вакансий по рубрикам в разделе туризм [3]