Oleg Alekseyev
President of the National Association of Event Tourism Specialists
73 thousand budget places have been allocated this year at colleges and universities to train specialists in tourism and hospitality. EcoTourism EXPERT asked Oleg Alekseyev, President of the National Association of Event Tourism Specialists, whether Russia needs so many specialists in the tourism and hospitality sector and what future industry professionals should be taught.
- Currently, about a million people work in the tourism and hospitality industry. Is this number great or small? How many specialists in the tourism sector are required?
- I would like to pay attention to the qualification of specialists in the tourism sector and not to their number. It is very important what and how students are taught in tourism and hospitality. And what knowledge and competences they have when they start working.
Unfortunately, modern specialists have insufficient skills that are required. And what students are taught today often is not what they require when they start working after graduating from universities. I know from my own experience and from that of my organization that many people have to be retrained. And students learn the necessary skills not at their university desks, but directly at their places of work.
Of course, today’s students of tourism and hospitality departments receive basic knowledge. But in general, I am not satisfied with the quality of education in tourism and hospitality that is provided. There are a few students who are eager to work enthusiastically, but this is the exception rather than the rule.
- It turns out that there are not enough really highly qualified specialists... Do we need more of them?
- Today, people from specialized universities are not always hired to work in tourism and hospitality sector. At the same time, it happens that people come to this sector without a specialized education. But at the same time, they are more active, smart and focused on the results, on getting a new profession than those who were trained in tourism and hospitality at colleges and universities.
Unfortunately, the tendency remains that many people enter colleges and universities to be trained in tourism and hospitality just to get a higher education. And most of them, by the way, do not work in their specialty after graduating from universities.
- By 2030, the tourism industry will additionally need 400 thousand workers, according to the Ministry of Economic Development. At the same time, 333.4 thousand people are already studying in tourism and hospitality. Do you see an excessive number of specialists in future, like it used to be with economists and lawyers some years ago?
- Of course, there will be an excessive number of specialists in tourism in future. I don’t know how many universities have these departments in Russia now, but a huge number of the colleges and universities train specialists in the ‘tourism and hospitality’ business and several other related specialties.
As for an excessive number of specialists in this profession in the future, it is difficult to say today whether it is expected to be. In terms of the number of specialists graduated, most likely, an excessive number of them is expected. But we remember that not everyone will start working in tourism and hospitality after graduating from a university. Not everyone will have a required qualification to be hired by employers.
- What can you say about today’s programs in this area? To what extent do they meet the requirements of the time?
- It is difficult to answer this question since I have not been in close contact with the respective universities for several years and do not teach such disciplines myself. But in general, given that many former students have to be retrained for their professions today, the current programs are far from perfect.
I can give you an example: the last experience I had was at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs, with the advanced students. There was a small group of about twelve people. At the same time, all of them were very interested in taking this course. And, moreover, almost all the students had a working experience in tourism and hospitality sector, some of them worked at hotels, other worked as tour guides.
In any case, they were focused on this tourism industry and were eager to gain knowledge. And it was clear that they were eager to start working.
But I also have other experience gained at the Russian State University of Tourism and Service, where I, on the contrary, saw students who did not need a profession in the tourism and hospitality sector at all. But there were also several smart girls and boys there, and I really envied the employers who would hire them after their graduation from the university.
- What needs to be added and what should be removed from the educational process in tourism and hospitality?
- The question is actually rhetorical and has nothing to do specifically with the tourism and hospitality because it applies to any industry.
I always remember the phrase of my university teacher, although it was quite a long time ago. He told us, his students, that “you are here not to be taught by me, you are here to learn how to learn”.
When people want to continue studying and working in the field they have chosen, they will succeed. When there is no such desire, any program will be useless, no matter how complete it is.
I do not know how things are now with specific educational programs in ‘tourism and hospitality’, especially since there are quite a lot of them, and they differ greatly. But the situation was the same everywhere: there are those students who do not need this profession in the future at all, and those who are eager to become a professional in tourism and hospitality.
