The contest “Stars of Hospitality” continues in Kazan: best porters, tour guides and tourism manager

Tests for participants are held on the basis of the Volga Academy of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism.

(KZN.RU, March 14, Ksenia Shvetsova). The municipal professional skills competition “Stars of Hospitality” continues among the employees of the hospitality industry's enterprises in Kazan. Today, the contestants are fighting for victory in the nominations “Best Porter”, “Best Tour Guide”, “Best Manager for Domestic and Inbound Tourism”. Tests are held on the basis of the Volga Academy of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism.

The competition has been held in Kazan since 2015. Daria Sannikova, director of the Tourism Promotion Committee, noted that the number of participants is increasing every year. The requirements for their preparation and evaluation criteria are becoming stricter. Last year, the capital of Tatarstan met the 3-millionth tourist for the first time. This is the contribution of all those who work in the field of tourism and hospitality. “People representing our city work in the nominations for which you will compete today. With your help, we show how hospitable Kazan is and how we welcome guests”, D. Sannikova addressed the contest participants. “I’m sure that together with you, we will once again prove that Kazan is the best city. We will meet not only the 4-millionth, but also the 10-millionth tourist. We can do it together!”

The contest “Stars of Hospitality” brings together experts who work in large and small travel companies, hotels, and other organizations, said Ekaterina Barabanova, the deputy chairperson of the State Committee of Tourism of the RT. “This is the right competitive competition that shows the faces of our tourism, people who meet our guests. Today it is hard to work in the tourist market. Competition among regions of Russia has grown, not to mention competition in the world market. You are the people who help in this work, and you are doing everything so that the guests return to us more than once”.

More than 2 million tourists who visited Kazan last year were youth representatives, said Airat Faizov, the chairman of the Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. He added that out of 160000 Kazan students, 90000 are foreign. “A huge number of events are taking place in Kazan and 90% of their participants are also young people. Therefore, the issues of youth tourism and the positioning of Kazan as a major youth center are very important for us”, said A. Faizov. He reminded that Kazan was among the top five in the competition for the title of European youth capital.

Interest in the competition from the youth is growing every year. Thus, there are more and more of masters and graduates of the Volga Academy of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism among the participants. “Today, we have more than 3000 students studying, and we are in fifth place among the universities of the city in recruiting for the first year”, said Yusup Yakubov, the rector of the Volga Academy of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism. “The training of tourist personnel is very important for us since Kazan is an actively developing city in the field of tourism. Tourism is becoming a full-fledged sector of the economy, and infrastructure needs experts”. He also added that last year, the Academy was visited by 200 thousand people who participated in various events held on the basis of the educational institution.

After greetings, participants were divided into different units and rooms depending on the nominations. The competition in each nomination is held in 3 stages: homework, presentation and solution of the problem or question in the area of expertise. As homework in the nomination “Best Manager of Domestic and Inbound Tourism”, the contestants compiled a program to participate in a tourism exhibition, from the presentation of which their first test started. After that, they will have to develop a tour in a certain direction and a so-called “quick-fire questions”, during which they will have to resolve a conflict situation or problem.

“I have been working in the tourist information center of the city for about a year, and more than three years in tourism in general”, said Chulpan Samigullina, a participant of the contest. “It seems to me that any competition is a stressful situation, and the manager shows his professionalism in such situations. I think that if you collect all the criteria for the competition, then in general, you can determine the level of professional training of the manager”.

While the participants were telling the jury how, in their opinion, they should prepare for the exhibition, the first test at the nomination “Best Porter” was held at a different room. All participants competing in this nomination had to prepare a presentation and briefly tell about themselves. Maria Ilinykh, an international expert on the “Hotel Administration” competence of the WorldSkills Championship, was among the jury of this nomination.

“I have been working in the hotel business for a year and a half. I came to the competition because I really wanted to test my strength and exchange experience with my colleagues”, said Daria Davletshina, an employee of the hotel “Mirage”. “I like the fact that the tests will take place not only in Russian, but also in English, this is important for our profession. I hope to win, but I wish good luck to other participants as well”.

“It is interesting that well-trained, competent experts always come to the competition. At the same time, their professionalism is growing every year”, said Ludmila Petrik, a member of the jury of the nomination “Best Tourism Manager”, the head of the service and tourism department of the academy, who has been working on the jury since the competition was created. “Each time, participants come to us who already competed last year. Usually, they always come back to try their strength again. And all of them are professionals in their sphere, because only experts who have worked in their profession for at least six months can participate in the competition”.

The competition “Stars of Hospitality” started this year in the hotel complex “Nogai”. 58 employees of restaurant service enterprises competed in four nominations: “Best Waiter”, “Best Bartender”, “Best Cook” and “Best Chef”. In total this year, about 130 service workers will show their professional skills in 9 nominations: waiters, cooks, maids, bartenders, guides, and other industry experts.

Photo report

The contest "Stars of Hospitality-2019" continues in Kazan