My future speciality. Tourism

I am a second-year student of the National University for Food Technologies. I study at the department of Hotel-Restaurant Business and Tourism. My future speciality is tourism. The course of training of a tourism manager takes 5 years of studying. The senior-year students are taught disciplines connected with their future qualification. These disciplines are: tourist regional geography, culture, tourism business organization, economics, computer science, history, public relations, tourism management and marketing, foreign languages, etc.

Future specialists in tourism should have a basic understanding of the tourism industry, its markets and trends. Knowledge of the industry structure, market segments and categories helps the future specialists to identify strategies for the development. They should know well how to organize and develop tours for clients. They should be able to provide promotion of a country’s tourism attractions and sights. One very important aspect of a tourism manager's job is to keep track of metrics and analytics which clearly show the state of tourism agency's sales and marketing efforts. Monitoring how many tourists visited an attraction, how many used the tourism agency's services within a specific period of time, and how much money these clients spent are all part of the records that the tourism manager keeps. This analytical data can be used to make projections on future marketing programs and to direct changes on how best to approach prospective clients and tourists. A good command of foreign languages is also necessary to use information in foreign languages from special sources for their future career, to discuss professional problems with their colleagues from foreign countries, etc.

On graduating from the university we’ll be able to work at travel companies as tourism managers, travel agents, tour leaders and tour guides.

I like my future qualification because it’s very interesting and challenging. We have a chance to meet different people, go to different places. We have to advise tourists and visitors about accommodation, transport and sightseeing and deal with their problems.

Ukraine tourism is one of the fastest growing branches of the state economy. Ukraine has excellent geography, climatic conditions and scenic nature. We should use our knowledge and skills for the modernization of our tourism infrastructure and attraction the world’s travellers to get acquainted with national culture and history.