Aim. The presented study aims to examine the market for convention, exhibition, and event services in large cities (through the example of St. Petersburg).Tasks. The authors analyze the current state of the market for convention, exhibition, and event services with allowance for the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, describe the role of convention, exhibition, and event activities as a driving force for the development of large cities, and propose ways to restore the convention, exhibition, and event industry in the post-pandemic period.Methods. This study uses the methods of systematization, logical, content, and statistical analysis to examine the structural elements of the system “convention and exhibition activities — metropolis”.Results. The essential characteristics of convention and exhibition activities and specific features of functioning of the market for convention, exhibition and event services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are determined. Development trends and directions of market transformations in the post pandemic period are identified, and proposals for expanding the effects of online formats in the event industry are formulated.Conclusions. The study shows the importance of the convention, exhibition, and event industry as a factor in generating business tourist flows to a destination, as a driving force for the development of a metropolis, as a factor in differentiating tourism and related services, and as a basis for attracting investment and implementing major infrastructure projects in a region hosting major business events. Regarding the development of online formats, the advisability of creating specialized marketplaces in the field of convention, exhibition, and event services is shown.

A resident of a large city is increasingly in need of a complete rest in the bosom of nature, enjoy the peace and beauty of landscapes. The administration of megacities is concerned about the problems of preserving the natural environment and creating within the city limits a network of recreational areas where recreational activities can be organized. The necessity and importance of establishing a network of specially protected natural areas within the metropolis is not in doubt. But the status of the created nature reserves implies, for the most part, prohibitions and restrictions for the organization of recreational activities. A detailed description of recreational opportunities for the rational use of individual components of the city’s natural environment is presented. The authors conducted a geoecological analysis of the allocation of recreational areas in large cities. Features of nature that should be considered when designing recreational areas in large cities, on example of St. Petersburg, are noted.

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The article examines the essence of tourism and sports as independent socio-economic systems and as subsystems of a higher order - the economy of the state, and on this basis, the authors’ concept of institutional approaches to the formation of the system structures of organizational and economic models of their development is proposed, taking into account the sectoral clustering in the creation of tourist sports and entertainment destinations and recreational complexes.

Aim. The presented study aims to comprehensively analyze the problem of including creative thinking as a separate competence – an essential element of soft skills – into the results of mastering academic disciplines to increase the development resource of a service enterprise through the example of the event industry as part of the creative industry.Tasks. The authors investigate the correlation between the event industry and creative industries; substantiate the importance of creative thinking for an event industry specialist and the need to introduce creative thinking training into academic programs in the field of congress and exhibition activities.Methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of this study includes the works of Russian and foreign scientists and experts in the field of creativity and its role as a resource for the development of enterprises. The study uses the following types of analysis: comparative (comparison of approaches, ideas, experience of different countries in investigating the composition of creative industries), hermeneutic (interpretation of various aspects related to the analysis of the needs of educational practices in the development of creative thinking), and systems analysis.Results. The main problem of the study is a result of the current trends in the development of the creative economy and the event industry as its element. Today, there is no formalized market for creative industries with clear forms, rules, and subjects in Russia. There is no legislative framework or structured legal and financial mechanisms to support and develop creative industries. This is due to the fact that there is a background problem: creative industries are counter-intuitively distributed across the sectors of the Russian economy. The study also addresses the problem related to the concept of "creative industry", its content and limits, insufficient elaboration of questions about the justification of the place of the event industry and its affiliation with creative industries, lack of theoretical and practical developments in the field of creative thinking in the training of event industry specialists. This study serves as a prerequisite for reconsidering the role and importance of developing creative thinking skills as a mandatory element of the training of personnel for the event industry. The results of the study include opportunities for preparing applied solutions to the problem of developing creativity skills at the present stage of the event industry being promoted in Russia as a dynamically developing industry and the need to increase its contribution to the national economy. In particular, the main signs of the event industry's affiliation with creative industries in the modern interpretation of the content of this concept are identified, and the need to consider creative thinking as a separate competence for training in the field of the event industry is assessed.Conclusion. The special role of creative thinking is revealed, substantiating the need to distinguish a separate creative thinking competence and to consider it as an integral component of the results of mastering most of the disciplines of the professional cycle in the training of specialists for the event industry. From the authors' perspective, this will help to minimize the gap between the needs of the market and the essence of current educational programs, and to facilitate the comprehensive formation of the desired "advanced professional competencies" and "skills of the future".