Armenia is little by little gaining its foothold on the global tourism market. The integration trends in the modern world inevitably boost the influx of people between countries, promoting the development of hospitality industries. And that in turn means that that the hotel business too, is progressing in parallel with all the other sectors of hospitality, writes Arthur Harutyunyan, the founder of Paris Hotel LLC.
"According to the World Tourism Organizations, over 16 million hotels across the globe are known to be operating at present, with around 20% of them being the hotel chains. Hence with this imperative of time, the Armenian hotel market requires a growth in both quantity and quality. The latter may be recorded as a result of applying the best international practice. And that's about not only opening international chain hotels and employing effective international standards in the existing hotels but also training high-quality professionals given that the human being is, after all, the driving force of any business regardless of the circumstances," Harutyunyan writes.
He points out to the impossibility of ensuring the sustainable activity of business and further development without having retrained specialists.
"Given that the Service program was introduced into the curricula of several universities long ago, with a separate department training specialists in the services sector, particularly in tourism, and the planning and organization of other services within that structure, it looks as though Armenia should have no problem at all when it comes to the training of specialists in the services sector. Experience shows, however, that academic education alone is not enough - even though it comes with practical knowledge. Of a great importance at this point is of course the cooperation between educational institutions and private companies, considering the existing specificities of business management (which very often remain excluded from academic curricula)," Artur Harutyunyan writes.
He proposes a variety of methods to foster cooperation between educational institutions and business companies specializing in hospitality.
"Considering the up-to-date requirements of qualification criteria for employees, it is possible to engage the best representatives of the private sector and employers in the development of educational measurement tools and academic curricula to add a more practical value and use to the knowledge being communicated and to more frequently declare open day doors for [potential] employees at educational institutions to promote a dialogue, exchange of experience, etc. In a number of countries in Europe, and in the United States, the so- called vocational schools turned out helpful in the recruitment of specialists in the hotel and restaurant business, with their curricula including not only theoretical knowledge but also - and predominantly - experience which in turn offers professional and practical skills.
"Those countries have restaurant and hotels hiring students who study and work simultaneously. This, I think, is an interesting model which can apply also to Armenia. I cannot but agree that the services sector in Armenia ensures a sufficient level of quality; at the same time, this kind of model too, by virtue of being based on experience, may be useful in terms of the training of specialists," Harutyunyan states.
He highlights the existing favorable conditions for promoting the development of different sectors of tourism in Armenia, citing the example of medical tourism.
"Medical tourism has been widely gaining momentum globally over the recent period. Experience shows that people from many world countries cross thousands of miles today to come to Armenia to benefit from different medical services. Dental service comes in the first place of course, followed by rhinoplasty, cosmetology, etc. Foreigners' preference in Armenia to combine rest with the use of medical services bears testimony to the fact that our doctors are not in the least inferior to the specialists in abroad, with their services being priced on a sufficiently reasonable level. That's to say, Armenia offers the best price-quality ratio. That's a trend allowing us to elaborate of a comprehensive program, gathering a team of marketing specialists to engage in strategy development, inviting experts from the tourism sector, etc. That's to say, it is necessary to create a working group where all the beneficiary parties will be represented. And by investing the talent of all the beneficiary parties, we will obtain a product that will be presentable to the world.
"I think that in our strategy towards the development of tourism, we need to also pay attention to the best international practice and the methods which are being applied," Artur Harutyunyan writes.
