Сontent aspects of a modern St. Petersburg city tour

Excursion activities in large cities of Russia demonstrate the increasing popularity of city tours and are undergoing numerous transformations, expressed both in thematic diversity and in the change in the content of individual excursions. This has an impact not only on the perception of urban space by sightseers – citizens and visitors, but also on the socio-cultural processes of the city and society in a broader sense. The article presents the results of an empirical study (included observation) of the content specificity of a number of city excursions around St. Petersburg as a city with the most actively developing excursion sphere. The content is analyzed in terms of: route and display objects; narrative and communication of the guide with the audience; activity activity, reflecting the solution of communicative tasks; the competence of the guide. The observation results are correlated with the provisions of scientific and methodological literature (authors of the early Soviet period – I. M. Grevs, N. P. Antsiferov, B. E. Raikov, N. A. Geinick, the era of «developed socialism» – B. V. Emelyanova , modern researchers – O.  N.  Orlova, A.  G.  Smirnova, I.  I.  Lisaevich, G.  A.  Leskova, N.  A.  Dobrina) and are presented in the form of generalized characteristics of the transformation of excursion content based on the phenomenological characteristics of the typology and content of a modern city excursion