On November 2, 2018, a gala awards ceremony was held in Moscow to honor the winners and runners-up of the annual professional excellence competition "Best in Profession in the Tourism Industry." The awards were presented to the best in the profession by the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Nikolai Korolev.
This year, the competition was held in 62 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Over the past six years, the number of participants has more than quintupled. This year, the competition traditionally took place in two stages: first at the regional level, along with industry associations, and then at the federal level. Participants included hotel receptionists, housekeepers, travel agency managers, and guides. Three special subcategories included youth tourism managers, accessible tourism specialists, and guide-interpreters. The federal stage featured 110 specialists from 40 regions of Russia.
"The tourism industry is developing very rapidly. To keep up with current trends, specialists need to constantly improve their knowledge and skills. Rostourism, together with the Interdepartmental Council for Training Personnel for the Tourism Sector and Improving the Quality Management of Tourism Services, is constantly working to develop a system for training personnel for the tourism industry and improve the quality of the educational process," noted Nikolai Korolev. He recalled that since 2015, the project to develop the National System for Training and Continuing Professional Development for Tourism Industry Specialists, "Tour Education," has been successfully implemented, operating in person and online.
"The nationwide system provides for advanced training for tourism industry specialists, including frontline staff, both in person and remotely. Between 2015 and 2017, more than 27,000 specialists completed advanced training. In 2018 alone, we trained over 16,000 specialists. Regional training centers have been established in each federal district. We expand the list of training centers annually. Currently, there are over 50," explained Korolev.
According to the results of the federal stage of the competition, first place in the category "Best Hotel Front Desk Employee" was taken by Valentina Andreyevna Kamkina, Front Desk Manager at the Volga Hotel (Ulyanovsk Region). Second place went to Ekaterina Petrovna Vislova, Front Desk Administrator at the SAYEN Hotel (Irkutsk Region). Third place went to Ekaterina Olegovna Rodina, Front Desk Administrator at the VERBA Hotel (Khabarovsk Krai).
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Sizova, Head of the Domestic Tourism Department at the Belka-Tour travel agency (Vologda Oblast), was named the winner in the "Best Inbound and Domestic Tourism Manager" category. Second place went to Maria Aleksandrovna Golynskaya, Executive Director of Severnoe Siyanie LLC (Republic of Karelia). Third place went to Natalya Aleksandrovna Shanina, Tourism Manager at Armada LLC (Tomsk Oblast).
In the "Best Tour Guide" category, first place went to Elena Vladimirovna Akhmatovskaya, a tour guide from Moscow (Association of Guides, Interpreters, Tour Guides, and Tour Managers). Second place went to Yulia Vladimirovna Shatalina, a tour guide at Khostinsky Otdykh LLC (Krasnodar Krai). Third place went to Yegor Dmitrievich Pronin, a sole proprietor (Tula Oblast).
Irina Nikolaevna Grishina, a maid at the Kazan Riviera Hotel (Republic of Tatarstan), took first place in the "Best Room Service Specialist (Maid)" category. Tatyana Aleksandrovna Danilova, a maid at the Baikal Business Center Hotel (Irkutsk Oblast), took second place, and Natalya Aleksandrovna Khubalieva, a maid at the Kurganovo Sports Complex (Sverdlovsk Oblast), took third place.
Winners in special sub-nominations: "Children's and Youth Tourism Manager" – Deputy Director of OOO "TK "Inteltour" Tamara Vladimirovna Zhuravleva (Vologda Oblast); "Accessible Tourism Specialist" – guide of OOO "TodzhaTur Travel Agency" Chingiz Sholbanovich Dugerzhaa (Tuva Republic); "Guide-Interpreter" – Snezhana Vitalievna Grigorieva from Moscow (Association of Guides-Interpreters, Tour Guides and Tour Managers).
Source: trn-news.ru