This article examines the pressing issue of training qualified personnel for the tourism industry, where a gap has emerged between traditional educational approaches and new demands on specialists’ spatial thinking dictated by modern geopolitical and socioeconomic realities. The aim of the study is to provide a theoretical substantiation and practical testing of a structural and substantive model for developing cartographic competence in future tourism specialists. The proposed model is based on the information-cartographic approach developed by the author. The article describes the phased implementation of this model in the educational process of Pushkin Leningrad State University, including the study of the disciplines «Cartographic support for tourism» and «Methods of visualization of educational information», as well as the subsequent integration of the acquired competencies into professionally oriented project and research activities. Particular attention is paid to the developed teaching and methodological support based on the principles of scientific character, systematicity, structure, interdisciplinarity and practice orientation. It is concluded that the proposed model, relying on the phenomenon of the graphic image as an integrator of knowledge, contributes to the development of professional thinking, higher cognitive motivation and the competitiveness of graduates. Prospects for further research are associated with the development of diagnostic tools and the adaptation of the model for other levels of education.