The article is aimed at identifying foreign experience in the development of the hospitality and tourism industry and the possibilities of its use in Kazakhstan. It is noted that the concepts of hospitality and tourism are two interrelated terms. Tourists are potential consumers who have a variety of desires and needs, depending on the purpose of their travel. Hospitality and tourism industry is generally regarded as one of the key driving forces of national and regional economic development. The key actors in hospitality and tourism development are the state, market, tourists and local people. The interactions among these actors create both public and social institutions together with market mechanisms. Success in the tourism and hospitality sector also depends on nurturing a quality workforce that is capable of delivering excellent customer service. In conclusion of this part, it is clearly seen, that the governments play the most important role in hospitality and tourism industry development. The government has to control development of the industry. On the Kazakhstani market of educational services the activity on preparation of specialists for tourism — a relatively new phenomenon. The analysis of activity of the Kazakhstani tourist firms, hotels and restaurants shows that the level of personnel training and quality of services lag behind generally accepted international standards in the West. Educational standards for the training of personnel for tourism industry are also varied considerably with educational standards of Europe. Taking into account the world experience of personnel training in the field of tourism industry and in accordance with generally accepted international standards, possibly to consider the introduction in Kazakhstan of such directions of training of competent professionals at the level of postgraduate education as «Management of hospitality». It is revealed that the study of world experience and its application in Kazakhstan is important for the successful development of the domestic hospitality and tourism industry.
The Republic of Kazakhstan has the huge climatic potential for the development of tourism and hospitality. Many regions of RK consider tourism as the perspective direction of economic activity capable to stimulate other spheres and to provide sustainable regional development. Tourism became the favorable and highly profitable industry comparable by efficiency of investment in oil and gas and processing industry and also automotive industry.
Today, the hospitality industry is a powerful system of economy of the region or tourist center and an important component of the tourism economy. The hospitality industry consists of various means of collective and individual accommodation: hotels, motels, hostels, apartments, as well as the private sector involved in the accommodation of tourists.
Hospitality industry is a business aimed at providing visitors with housing, food, as well as the organization of their leisure.
Tourist services, including hotel services, are classified as social and cultural services. They are based on the principles of modern hospitality, which increases their role in the development of domestic tourism, as well as poses certain tasks in the training system for tourist services.
Hospitality is one of the concepts of civilization, which thanks to progress and time has become a powerful industry in which millions of professionals work, creating the best for consumers (tourists). The hospitality industry includes various spheres of activity of people-tourism, recreation, entertainment, hotel and restaurant business, catering, excursion activities, organization of exhibitions and various scientific conferences.
Despite the period of economic growth in the country and the increase in income, the development of tourism in Kazakhstan can not be considered successful. But there is a global experience of successful development of the hospitality and tourism industry, and there are countries that have achieved high results.
The study of the world experience and application, taking into account the specifics in Kazakhstan, is important for the successful development of the domestic hospitality and tourism industry.
A wide range of problems of the Kazakh hospitality and tourism industry are actively discussed by the scientific community in numerous works of foreign and Kazakh scientists [1].
The practice of foreign countries-leaders of the hospitality and tourism industry (USA, Japan, UK, France, Germany, etc.) shows many advantages and opportunities for the development of tourism, not only as an industry that provides employment and replenishment of regional budgets, but also as an area to improve production efficiency, business development, small and medium-sized businesses; areas that contribute to the development of regional infrastructure, improve the quality of life of local residents, meeting needs.
Development of hospitality and tourism industry in Southeast Asia has been progressing remarkably over the last decade, displaying a strong and positive trend. Hospitality and tourism industry is generally regarded as one of the key driving forces of national and regional economic development. Although different countries have different approaches and policies towards development of the industry, they adopt the common theme that hospitality and tourism need to be managed in an effective and sustainable manner. The governments are active in promoting and developing tourism in response to national, regional and global tourism dynamism.
The key actors in hospitality and tourism development are the state, market, tourists and local people. The interactions among these actors create both public and social institutions together with market mechanisms. Through the process of negotiation, cooperation and communication between different actors and institutions, economic development and identity construction is generated.
Public-private partnership has played a significant role in tourism development in Southeast Asia. The private sector works together with the public sector to promote the tourism industry through marketing and investment to provide services and experiences to tourists. For instance, taking the case of Thailand, the government policy continuously played a major role in shaping tourism policy and supporting the growth of the private sector. In the case of Vietnam, the private sector is working closely with state institutions and officials to mediate, interpret and implement the rules and regulations, laws, policies and directives developed by the central government for governing private tourism business activity.
It is necessary for private industry, local governments and community groups to work in partnership in planning and developing tourist destinations which involve sensitive natural and cultural resources, identifying and providing readily available sources of financing for tourism projects, particularly those involving community-based projects, training and educating current and prospective tourism industry workers, promoting sustainable tourism advocacy campaigns on the national and local levels, and establishing a continuous and credible system of evaluation, monitoring and accrediting of tourism organizations, services and destinations.
The high vulnerability of the hospitality and tourism industry necessitates preventive mechanisms and crisis management systems. It therefore heightens the need for countries in a given region to further cooperate and coordinate in the security sector in order to create a favorable environment for hospitality and tourism industry development. Tourism cooperation can lead to the creation of a combined political will and efforts in other fields as well, such as regional cooperation to provide security and safety for international tourists in the region.
The hospitality and tourism development plan includes encouraging equitable economic and social development through the promotion of rural enterprises, accelerating urban-rural integration and cultural exchange, and encouraging ethnic community participation; developing environment-friendly tourism products, as well as promotion of cultural and natural heritage; provision of soft loans for small- and medium-size tourism-related projects; and adoption of an integrated approach to planning, continuing human resource development, and preservation and beautification of tourism and historical sites.
The government in Malaysia has played a crucial role in the adoption and formulation of various laws while providing the appropriate institutional and legal framework to ensure sustainable tourism. Two government bodies are in charge of the development of tourism in Malaysia. The first is Ministry of Tourism — Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism (MoCAT) prior to 2004, which is responsible for the planning, monitoring and coordinating policy with the government. The second is Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB or Tourism Malaysia) whose main role is to market and promote tourism aspects and suggest investment opportunities. Some other federal agencies are also involved in hospitality and tourism development including: department of Agriculture (agrotourism), department of Forestry (ecotourism), department of Fisheries (coastal tourism), department of Wildlife and National Parks (ecotourism), department of Aborigines' Affairs (ethnic tourism) and department of Museums and Antiquities (heritage/cultural tourism).
Success in the tourism and hospitality sector also depends on nurturing a quality workforce that is capable of delivering excellent customer service. To do so, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Manpower and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) launched a Tourism Talent Plan in 2007. Under this plan, $360 million was allocated to be spent over three years to train 74000 tourism industry workers, thus equipping Singapore with qualified manpower to cope with higher levels of visitor arrivals. Some 6000 students will also be trained to join the hospitality and tourism industry by 2010, while a $30-million scheme introduced by STB will support tourism establishments in developing their manpower by acquiring specialized tourism-related skills or new capabilities.
With the rapid rate at which major developments like the IRs are being built, employers and government agencies are upping efforts to train and recruit global talents to supplement the local workforce. A career in hospitality and tourism industry spans many areas such as customer service, guest relations, catering and banqueting, public relations and marketing, branding and communications, events management, and more. With the ball in your court, all you need to do is to make a decision that will open up endless career opportunities for yourself in a uniquely promising industry.
The Thai government has a vision to transform Thailand into the center of hospitality and tourism industry in Asia with quality and sustainability, in order to enable a thorough income distribution to the community by focusing on the distinctive and graceful Thai culture, and to develop national sports to become one of Asia's leading nations in sports as well as a center of sports that generates income, jobs, and sports excellence and develops a sustainable quality of life in society. The government has a mission to promote, support and develop tourism and sports with effective management in order to generate national revenue, to integrate and coordinate the tasks of tourism and sports which systematically link to all sectors in order to accomplish sustainable national economic and social development, and to enhance the regional and global competitiveness of the hospitality, tourism and sports industries.
In conclusion of this part, it is clearly seen, that the governments play the most important role in hospitality and tourism industry development. The government has to control development of the industry.
Iistorical retrospective and the lack of a strategic plan for the development of the tourism industry in the country led to a decline in tourist interest in Kazakhstan and the formation of the image of an expensive tourist center with low quality service.
Strengthened growing interest of Kazakhstan to foreign travel, which formed the quality base for the reception of travelers and tourists from the Republic of Kazakhstan. The lack of interest on the part of foreign and domestic travelers largely predetermined less interest in the organization of trips of foreigners to Kazakhstan, as well as the lack of interest in domestic tourism on the part of travel companies.
Foreign experience shows that the main purpose of managing customer relations in the hospitality and tourism industry at the present stage is to establish mutually beneficial relations between the client and the hotel company. The importance of such relationships is determined by the fact that to win a new customer for the hotel is becoming increasingly difficult. The process of studying customer needs and responding quickly to their changes has become the basis for achieving the high goals of many successful hotel corporations. One of the strongest trends in the development of customer relationship management is the shift of focus from meeting the needs of all consumers to the creation of full-fledged relationships and consumer networks aimed at satisfying each individual customer. This process is primarily focused on long-term mutually beneficial cooperation for both the hotel company and the client.
The tourism and hotel industry acts as one of the regulators of employment. About 3 million jobs are created annually in this sphere. For example, tourism accounts for 13 % of the European Union's job market. The world tourism system employs more than 130 million people, according to the International labour organization (ILO), and it is about 20 times cheaper to create a single job here than in the industrial sector of the economy.
Examples of developed tourist countries (Spain, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, France, Austria), where the service sector employs includes from 20 to 50 % of the employed population and show that of the three new professions, as a rule (especially for young people), two may arise in the tourism sector.
Worldwide training for tourism business is given considerable attention. Because for the tourism business the problem of qualified personnel is very important, because in tourism the product offered to the consumer is not a product, but a service.
Ensuring the quality of tourist services is directly related to the professionalism of specialists providing these services, knowledge of tourist resources and their quality. This means that the knowledge and skills of the Manager who offers this service depends on whether the consumer will purchase it or not.
Tourism management played a major integrative role. It is no accident the basis of professional tourist education are not technology, engineering, Economics, ecology, and even marketing-management as the direction in maximum extent is able to implement strategic and integrative generating function of tourism. Therefore, the Manager in the tourist activity should not only have knowledge about a certain tourist destination, but also be a psychologist who feels his client, have knowledge of the basics of international law and be ready to answer any question of the consumer.
The world's main training centers for the tourism industry were founded in the early and mid-twentieth century. Most educational institutions training staff for the tourism industry in the UK — 37, Spain and Italy — 28, France — 22; on the American continent are Canada — 25, USA — 22 and Chile — 12, and in the Asia-Pacific region — Australia — 16, China — 6, Philippines — 5, Japan — 4.
Travel specialists emphasize high quality educational programs in the field of tourism and hospitality management at Cornell University (Cornell University) in the United States, the Institute of international hospitality management (Institut de Management Hotelier International) in Switzerland, the Institute of tourism of economic University of Vienna (Institut fur Tourismus und Frezeitwirtschaft) in Austria.
The analysis of activity of the Kazakhstan tourist firms, hotels and restaurants shows that the level of personnel training and quality of services lag behind generally accepted international standards in the West [2]. Educational standards for the training of personnel for tourism industry are also varied considerably with educational standards of Europe. Methodological aspects of education and technical equipment of educational institutions differ, as well as a set of professions and positions in tourism, restaurant and hotel business.
On the Kazakhstani market of educational services the activity on preparation of specialists for tourism — a relatively new phenomenon [3].
A serious problem hindering the development of tourism in Kazakhstan is the inefficient system of training of tourist personnel. Until 1992, neither in Kazakhstan nor on the territory of all the republics that were previously part of the USSR, there was no experience of training specialists of tourist and hotel structures operating in the market conditions. Therefore, in the first universities of the Republic, preparing tourism managers, the preparation of curricula, programs, and the organization of the entire educational process was carried out mainly empirically, without sufficient scientific justification.
Now the Republic is working on training and retraining of professional personnel for the tourism industry, education in the field of tourism and hotel industry is dynamically developing and improving. Of course, it is still too early to compare the Kazakh tourist education with the foreign one, where it has existed for 5080 years, but there is hope to overtake the Western countries in this indicator in about ten years.
World experience in the development of the tourism industry shows that professional education of employees is a prerequisite for the successful operation of the enterprise.
Every year an increasing number of specializations is in tourism and hospitality industry. Professional tourism education is offered mainly by higher education institutions. While in Europe, experts point out that tourism is one of those sectors where, under modern conditions it does not require extensive education. For example, in France, in just two years of training you will receive a competitive tourism education. It should be noted that the majority of all training takes place at the enterprise. The structure and content of curricula of universities that train specialists for the hospitality industry and tourism, differentiated depending on level of education, traditions of national education, competencies specific educational institutions.
Distinctive features of the world system of training personnel for the hospitality industry and tourism are:
- the applied nature of the training of the bulk of experts;
- a large number of elective courses, allowing students to expand their horizons and to master related (and sometimes quite remote) areas of activity;
- a high proportion in the curricula of the various types of practices, internships and sandwich-training technologies (training interrupted);
- active participation of almost all students in various forms of international exchange;
- extremely high level of students' assimilation of information technologies regardless of the chosen sphere of activity in the hospitality industry and tourism;
- the study of at least two and often three languages.
Naturally, the formation of specific educational programs and set of training courses is carried out in response to the requests of the markets of the hospitality and tourism.
When developing educational programs it is necessary to consider the main advantages of European models of vocational training for tourism and hospitality:
- most study time should be allotted to the acquisition of practical skills obtained during the practical training, internships in enterprises of the tourism industry and hospitality;
- to focus on the formation of the psychology of customer service students;
- to establish close cooperation between enterprises of the industry of tourism and hospitality and educational institutions;
- to increase the mobility of students.
The needs of the tourism sector in the new conditions are largely focused on the need for adequate staffing of all areas of development, types and forms of tourism. The main contradiction here lies in the multidisciplinary nature of tourist activity, which, on the one hand, needs personnel of various professions, specialties, qualifications, and on another — in fundamentally new technologies for servicing tourists, the needs of which arise as the development of related industries of the national economic complex and the formation of specialists in related professional activities.
The rapid globalization of the world economy, the development of means of communication, increased migration flows helps to ensure that issues of quality and standardization of tourist services is becoming one of the world's major problems [4]. Taking into account the world experience of personnel training in the field of tourism industry and in accordance with generally accepted international standards, possibly to consider the introduction in Kazakhstan of such directions of training of competent professionals at the level of postgraduate education as «Management of hospitality».
For Kazakhstan, the problem of improving the system of training for tourism is of particular importance due to the fact that the development of domestic and inbound tourism requires highly qualified specialists. Rapidly developing tourism industry of Kazakhstan in the near future will experience a lack of trained personnel.
As for Nur-Sultan, the development of the hotel industry is one of the most important elements of the hospitality industry.
Now we can say that the hospitality of the city at the level of development ranked first in the country. And this fact is not accidental. Today Astana is not only the administrative, cultural and scientific center with a rich history, beautiful landscapes, important shopping and business center. In the city there are prerequisites for the development of all types of tourism activities, and therefore, the flow of tourists of different categories will continue to grow. Therefore, the demand for the city's hotel enterprises of various types will continue to increase.
Therefore, the annual in the city's various congresses, symposiums and festivals, business meetings require high level of construction and development of the existing hotel companies category.
The development of trade relations requires the development of middle-class hotels and hotels located near shopping centers, railway stations and highways.
For the development of tourism requires the development of hotel enterprises in peri-urban areas.
Characteristically, the hotel enterprises of the city geographically concentrated few, in our opinion, specifically. Therefore, hotel complexes of luxury categories are mostly located either in downtown areas or in the suburban area. In turn, the peripheral areas with low income hotel companies [5].
For the solution of complex problems requires not only the construction of new facilities, but also modernization and expansion of existing hotel-type enterprises (such attempts have already been made), improvement of material-technical base and optimal use of tourist resources. Appropriate to a particular zoning in the village of Burabay according to the degree of intensity of development of hotel enterprises.
In turn, investment on construction and modernization of hotel complexes may come from the following sources:
- state financing;
- private investment;
- foreign investments;
- joint flow of funds from these three sources.
Currently, the share of private capital from the total amount of funding of the hospitality industry supplied very little as the risk associated with the investment of funds; due to the dynamic nature of tourist demand is often different today, the low level of profitability of the hotel enterprises and also in connection with long payback periods, making the construction of new hotel complexes are not attractive for private capital. This requires a clear thought-out government program to support private capital, directed at the tourism industry. The enabling environment for the infusion of private investments, in our opinion, can be summarized as follows:
- credit policy (subsidies, loans, etc.);
- tax policy;
- state land policy.
Granting to the enterprises of the tourism industry concessional loans will help to weaken the pressure exerted by the increased construction costs caused by inflation and rising prices for construction materials and equipment [6].
The holding of a special tax policy for enterprises in the tourism industry will be a confirmation of the recognition of the role of international tourism in the economic development of the city. An essential incentive for private investment in areas prospective for tourism development should be a national land policy, which refers not only to the laws of the area allocated for construction, but also the whole corpus of legislation related to the natural resources used in tourism production process. Not to mention that some steps in providing a legal framework tourism are already done. Great importance when creating hotel complexes have played and will play overseas.
Most important, in our opinion, is the direction of foreign investment in city areas that have less saturation, hotel companies, as well as in suburban areas — for development of tourist bases and recreation areas.
Of course, foreign investment can be successfully carried out only with the provision of the legal framework and government guarantees. The government, assume the task of providing such legal basis, thereby creating the preconditions for the effective functioning of the hospitality industry. Necessary legal framework involves measures such as granting legal status to private enterprises defines the right of private property and guarantees the observance of contracts. At the level of akimats of cities requires the adoption of the draft governing the relationship between the tourist enterprises, owners of recreational resources and consumers. Of great importance for the development of the hotel enterprises of Kokshetau plays and improving the level and range of services improved quality of service. Because they often show a clear discrepancy in the quality of service and prices charged. It can be noted that prices for hotel rooms in the city range from ten dollars and above, even in hotel companies low category, which corresponds to an average of world prices, and the level of comfort and level of service is much lower. In hotel complexes, there is practically no system of discounts and exemptions that, in principle, is important for attracting tourists.
Of great importance for the development of the hotel enterprises and attract foreign tourists it has and is. In addition, in my opinion, a significant step by the administration of hotel enterprises of the city, and cooperating travel agencies would be conducting familiarization tours for hotels and hotel for foreign partners.
Justification for territorial shifts is performed based on the maximum permissible recreational load. Newly created enterprises must meet all the requirements and comfort, to conform to the principles of the planning organization of the city.
Despite the social, cultural and economic importance of tourism for the development of Kazakhstan and its individual territories, this industry faces great challenges in its progressive development.
Successful international experience of some foreign countries gives an opportunity to take a fresh look at the problems of domestic tourism and hospitality and offer key areas that can make Kazakhstan more successful in this area.
Globalization of the economy leads to the fact that currently in the hospitality and tourism industry in the Republic of Kazakhstan requires the creation of flexible and responsible enterprises, based on modern science-based development strategies and capable of reform, taking into account the positive foreign experience in order to respond to new requirements and opportunities. Modern hotel companies need to invest more in improving the quality of service and increasing the perceived value of customers to achieve the most complete customer satisfaction and build loyalty. Quality customer relationships will create positive oral advertising and increase repeat customer visits, forming a sustainable customer base and return business for hotel businesses.
Using the experience of South-East Asia, it can be assumed that the creation of tourism enterprises in conjunction with the host territories spatially differentiated and seasonal tourism product, as well as the formation of a positive, different from the other, tourist image of the territory contributes to the growth of travel for tourist purposes within the country.
Taking into account the world experience, it can be argued that the achievements of the tourism and hospitality industry in Kazakhstan largely depend on how closely local and regional authorities, business and the scientific community will interact in the direction of finding ways to successfully develop the tourism and hospitality industry.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it can be noted that the hotel sector is under active development and has broad prospects for further development.
References
- Elkanova, D.I., Osipov, D.A, Romanov, V.V, & Sorokina, E.V. (2009). Osnovy industrii hostepriimstva [In the Basics of the hospitality industry]. Moscow: Dashkov i Ko [in Russian].
- Postanovlenie Pravitelstva Respubliki Kazakhstan «Ob utverzhdenii Kontseptsii razvitiia turistskoi otrasli Respubliki Kazakhstan do 2023 hoda» [Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan «on approval of the Concept of development of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2023»]. (2017, 30 iiunia, No. 406). online.zakon.kz. Retrieved from https://online.zakon.kz [in Russian].
- Zakon Respubliki Kazakhstan «O turistskoi deiatelnosti v Respublike Kazakhstan» [On touristic activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan]. (2001, 13 iiunia) [in Russian].
- Vsemirnaia turistskaia orhanizatsiia [United Nations World Tourism Organization]. INVTO, VTOON. unwto.org. Retrieved from www. unwto.org [in Russian].
- Papirian, G.A. (2000). Menedzhment v industrii hostepriimstva [Management in the hospitality industry]. Moscow: Ekonomika [in Russian].
- Chudnovskii, A.D. (2016). Aktualnye problemy razvitiia turistskoi industrii [Actual problems of development of the tourist industry]. Moscow: KnoRus [in Russian].