The importance of dealing with the notion “national character” when studying the subject “Countries studies”.

O. Zhbikovskaya

The purpose of studying the subject “Countries Studies” is that future specialists in tourism should acquire the knowledge about the perculiarities of the most visited countries by the Russian tourists and get skills in creating the image of a particular country or a region. This is possible with the help of identifying specific particularities of a national character, standards and traditions, historical and cultural components of these peculiarities.

Specialists working in holiday business have to know not only geographical features but cultural ones. The success of running the holiday business, the safe staying of Russian tourists in a foreign country and the meeting of the demands of foreign travellers staying in Russia directly depend on such knowledge.

According to the World Tourist Organization France has been heading the list for at least three years now, with 75 million visitors per year with so many beautiful places to visit and home to the famous Eiffel Tower. Following closely are the United States and China, who has replaced Spain as the world's third most visited country, according to the data compiled by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). All of these countries are visited by tens of millions people each year

The outbound distribution of the Russian tourist flow is the following:

Turkey, as expected, remains on the first place on the popularity list of foreign destinations, Thailand takes over the palm from Egypt by the number of Russian tourists and Spain comes the third , followed by Greece on the fourth, Cyprus on the sixth place, the seventh place is shared by Bulgaria and Tunisia and the eighth place by Montenegro and Croatia, the Dominican Republic is the ninth, and the Czech Republic closes the top ten.

Thus, during the course the students study the most visited regions in the world and by the Russians as well.

There are many factors that influence the development of tourism in a particular country or a region: geographical, climatic, and political. The increase in international activities and the growth of tourism result in the fact that many people familiar with their own culture are not aware of a different one. Such a lack can result in a culture shock or a culture clash. People from different cultures using the same basic notions can put smth different in them because every nation has their own ideas about these notions how universal the notions can be. Thus, a successful communication always calls for the understanding of the particularities of common approaches and norms in a particular country. What does a cultural component of country studies involve?

Here are the following subcomponents which should be identified as integral parts of our subject.

Population and peoples, historical description, language, religion, art, customs and traditions, recreational centers, nature and built attractions, cuisine.

All these components are very important when studying “ country studies” and one of the most important features of the tourism growth is population that forms a so-called background or a country image. The territory of every country is inhabited by loads of people. Many people are much alike but at the same time there are many differences in the language, religion, traditions, particularities of spiritual and material art. While speaking about “population” we can't help addressing to the topic " the national character". This notion is very important. Thus, identifying national perculiarities is like walking through a minefield of unexpected exceptions and unpredictable hypotheses. Fistly, the representatives of any nations are different as every person can be different. Secondly, one can meet untypical representatives of any nation e.g. an explosive Finn, a slowcoach and silent Italian, a careful American. But there is a national standard of a representative of any nation, e.g. the Italians are more talkative as a rule, than the Finns. Nevertheless there is a national standard of a representative of a nation. Talkative Finns and silent Italians stand out among their compatriots. Some key mental and behavioral categories are presented in the national identity and in the other's nations appreciations of a typical representative. What does it mean? E.g. for a Frenchman this is love , elegance and the art of living, for a German this is the order and discipline, for an Italian it’s the carelessness and the artistry, for a Briton - the traditionalism and being gentlemenlike, for a Russian- a generous nature etc. Remember popular descriptions! A typical Briton, a true Frenchman, a real Russian etc. An external vision of a typical Frenchman as well as the vision of representatives of any nation depend on which country such visions have been formed, so on the cultural standards of a particular society. Thus, the Americans consider the Frenchmen cold, mean and chilly; but in Russia they are regarded as carelessness and great lovers. We should take into consideration all these facts when dealing with other cultures.