The future of tourism: first graduates of hospitality and catering industry course are here
- 21.02.2022
850
The first group completed a retraining course for managers in the hospitality and catering industry as part of the Nickel-Tourism — 2025 Project. The Second School, Development Project Center of the Pechenga district, became a venue for graduation.
The course is a joint initiative of Murmansk Arctic State University and The Second School Centre in Nikel. The project aims to develop the hospitality industry in Pechenga district, which is vital for the territory that goes through social and economic changes. The project started with specialists from MASU Sociological Research Laboratory conducting a survey and analyzing whether the citizens of Pechenga district were ready to engage in the tourism industry and what expertise would be required. The results helped to modify educational programmes.
The course began in September 2021 in a hybrid format, involving MASU professors and experts of the Gastronomic map of Russia project as central speakers.
During the course, participants gained universal and specific knowledge and skills required in the hospitality and catering industry and designed their business projects for tourism development in the Pechenga district. Some of the projects got a high score from the examination board.
«After some modifications, these projects can easily get government support as tourism initiatives. Seventeen out of twenty participants of the retraining course obtained diplomas with honours that allow them to begin a new career,» said Anna Popova, head of the project and Associate Professor of MASU Tourism and Consumer Services Department.
Andrei Fomenko, director of The Second School Centre, Aleksandr Eliseev, chairperson at Murmansk Region Tourism Committee, and Marina Akhmetova, deputy head of the Pechenga district, congratulated participants of the course and wished them a successful implementation of the projects.
The completed course is the first course as part of a two-year Nickel-Tourism — 2025 project, designed by The Second School Centre and Murmansk Arctic State University, supported by Nornickel mining and smelting company. Arctic destinations management, the second educational programme, starts late February — early March 2022. The programme will focus on tourism areas management in the Arctic. The goal of the programme is to develop new tourism products.
