Natalia Parsadanova, Russia

MOSCOW --- Travelers stream into the Moscow World Trade Center from the four corners of the planet: business delegations the U.S.; fashion designers from Spain; officials from China; not to mention representatives from 118 countries in 2008 for a tourism exposition. The Center is spread across a 200,000 square meter complex and its hotel is the 575-room Crowne Plaza, where Natalia Parsadanova has begun her career in the Travel & Tourism Industry. The Crowne Plaza, along with Sheraton, Hyatt, Marriott, Kempinski and a few others, is one of Moscow's luxury international hotel brands.

"I just love that every day my role is to be available to work with people and help them," said Parsadanova, 21, a sales manager at the hotel. "Add to that, I work for a great company.”

The world of hotels and hotel life captured Parsadanova's imagination years ago. "When I went to a hotel I used to get a buzz like nowhere else I went," she said. "I could have been there all day." She enjoyed the different kinds of people, the different kinds of hotel.

"I then saw that the way I could enjoy interacting with people and also get that buzz at the same time was to study travel and tourism," said Parsadanova.

She first signed up for the Travel & Tourism Program at her high school. "It gave me primary skills and knowledge of this rapidly expanding industry," said Parsadanova.

Her career track so far can be divided into four segments: (a) entry into her high school program, which introduced her to the industry; then (b) after high school entry into the Moscow Academy of Tourism and Hospitality; (c) joining the staff of the predecessor hotel to the Crowne Plaza while still a student at the Academy; (d) a year of training and supervision as manager-assistant in the Marketing and Sales Department which prepared her for working the hotel's critical front line operation---direct customer contact.

An important challenge came early in her career, in 2006, when the hotel made a major financial investment to bring the hotel up to international standards. The focus of the program was to refit the hotel physically from top to bottom, and to improve customer service. That meant not everyone would still have jobs. But the committee which evaluated Parsadanova was impressed by the skills she already had acquired, by her ability to handle her job, and by her enthusiasm for her work. She was offered the position of sales manager.

She is now working in the front line, part of the public face of the hotel. She works mostly with corporate clients, an important market for the hotel, since so many companies use the hotel.

Her current role and responsibilities involve direct contact with both current and potential customers, and also customer research. Based on her research, she analyses what potential customers need from the hotel so that the hotel can offer them the right combination of products and services. When they become customers, she stays involved to make sure their needs are met.

Parsadanova, now 21, never misses chances to learn more about the industry she has joined. She takes advantage of opportunities for additional training. Seminars she has attended recently include: Strategic Selling; Account Management; and Negotiation Skills. Last year her company sent her to London to the annual World Travel Market – in order to set up new partnerships for the hotel.

"I want to be successful in the hotel industry, and I will do my best to make a good career," she said.

However Parsadanova is young enough and early enough in her career to know that not every young person sees the potential she saw in a career in travel and tourism, which for her has led to serious responsibility, opportunities to add to her skills, and travel.

They see "long hours and low pay," said Pasadanova, and like many others she sees that perception as a problem for the industry.

To change the perception many young people have of the travel and tourism as a career, companies need "to develop internal programs to create attractive career paths" and "make industry-sponsored education programs more readily available," she said.

Andrea Toth, Hungary

RACKEVE, Hungary --- On most weekends you can find Andrea Toth immersed in her job as marketing, sales and banqueting manager at the Savoy Mansion Hotel, a riverside Baroque chateau in the Danube Valley about 45 km south of Budapest completed in 1722. Weekends often mean weddings at the hotel. Since she is the banqueting manager, she must also be a wedding organizer. That means not just being present and coordinating the event, but also preparing cost estimates, writing contracts, and --- last but certainly not least --- assembling and presenting the final invoice.

" I tend to spend a little more time in the hotel than I should, " said Toth, "but the middle of the week is more quiet and gives me a chance to do the rest of my work."

The "rest of her work" includes working with groups that want to use the Savoy's indoor and outdoor facilities for training sessions, conferences, team building exercises and banquets and working with individuals who want a program of activities. She also develops the hotel's promotional materials. The hotel is "pretty and romantic," she said, with employees who are like family.

One recent project she has enjoyed was reworking the hotel's website in Hungarian, English and German, as well as the hotel's brochure. Her work can be seen by clicking on http://www.savoyai.hu

"I like my job because of its variety, and it gives me the chance to be creative every time and to realize my ideas," said the 27-year old Toth.

"Since I was brought up in this area, I know the tourist attractions and suppliers, the museums, tourist office employees, thermal baths, the riding school, the wine cellars. I know them very well so it makes it easier for me to work with them to make our guests satisfied," said Toth.

Toth's road to the Savoy started with the Travel & Tourism Program she took during the last two years of high school. She was attracted to the course by the way it was taught and by its practical content.

"The thing I liked best about the course is that we could work both as individuals and also in small groups, whether we were working in the classroom or doing projects outside 'in the field,'” said Toth.

She also liked the topics the students discussed in class including people's travel habits, what travelers seem to want, how people chose destinations, and concepts like supply and demand.

The Travel & Tourism course had a "good atmosphere," said Toth, who also started studying English and German while emphasizing her tourism studies.

About half way through the program she decided she wanted to pursue a career in Travel & Tourism. How she prepared herself for her career is instructive. After high school she took a 4-year college degree course in the town of Szolnok, studying economics and business administration, with a concentration in Travel & Tourism and Hotel Management. As part of her studies she gained work experience working at a four-star hotel in Sopron, learning about its restaurant, housekeeping, wellness center, front desk and sales operations. A second work-study assignment took her to a firm that specialized in event management, an experience that helped her when she wrote her graduation thesis. She stayed with the firm after graduation. After spending a year in Germany, which is a big market for Hungarian tourism, improving her German language skills she returned home and went to work at the Savoyai in 2003. She started out working at the reception desk and in the banqueting department, then was promoted to be an assistant manager, and then restaurant manager, before moving up to her current assignment.

Toth likes where she is and what she is doing. Whatever the future brings, she is clearly well prepared.

Gergely Rung, Hungary

BUDAPEST--- He was 16 and it was time for Gergely Rung to choose one of the optional courses his high school offered. Friends told him that the Travel & Tourism course was not -- in their words-- the usual "chalk-and-talk" curriculum. Rung had traveled to different countries; he was interested in a career in the travel industry; the course sounded interesting, so he signed up.

"The GTTP was a positive confirmation for me about what I wanted to do," said the 23-year old Rung.

The GTTP Hungary Program is designed for students aged 14 years to 18 years and includes both mandatory and optional subject matter modules that require 220 classroom hours spread over two years, including 60 hours of work place experience. The program emphasizes two important areas: exposing students to the workplace and individual development.

Teachers receive 30 hours obligatory training before they can teach the program, and also have access to annual two-day supplementary training courses. More than 40 schools in Hungary now offer the Travel & Tourism education program.

"During the two years I became interested in organizing travel and got many assignments from my teacher regarding travel agencies," said Rung, whose first name, Gergely, is "Gregory" in English.

"I spent my 60 hours of work experience at the Tensi travel agency, and this was very pleasant because I had real tasks to do --- not only typing participant lists all day long, " said Rung.

Some 350 firms in Hungary now offer students in the Travel and Tourism program work experience opportunities.

"Following the compulsory 60 hours, the manager of the agency asked if I wanted to stay on. I gladly said 'yes!' By that time I was being given more and more complex tasks, " said Rung. "I learnt a lot from my colleagues and also from clients."

"By the end of the summer I was allowed to talk to potential clients and was selling tours," said Rung.

Rung continued to broaden his experience: after Tensi he went to the Avanti Travel Agency, then the Quaestor Group.

While working Rung also pursued his studies, first at the Europe 2000 two-year Travel and Tourism Management School and also a ticketing course offered by IATA, the International Air Transport Association.

Rung combined full-time work with more studying. He enrolled in the College Kodolanyi Janos, which offers courses in travel and tourism, and he expects to graduate at the beginning of 2010.

Rung's career had one detour: problems with his kidneys required a six-month detour after he received a new kidney from his devoted father. But even while recuperating at home Rung managed to keep working. He is now well.

Rung has been able to travel widely. He has been to Spain four times, as well as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, New York City, Britain, Greece, and Turkey. He plans to explore Northern Europe, especially Finland.

Rung will tell you that he has benefited from GTTP Hungary in preparing for his career.

"The Program gave me perspective," said Rung.

Amber Crofts, Canada

VICTORIA, B.C.--- On a recent October day if you had gone to the 5th floor of 800 Johnson Street in Victoria on Canada's Pacific coast, you would have found Amber Crofts working on contact data on the leaders of British Columbia's Aboriginal tourism industry for the province's Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts.

The information is used when the Ministry plans events and needs to know the appropriate people to invite or involve.

"We have about 200 Aboriginal owned-and-operated businesses and we are working to built upon that with educational sessions and training, and offering resources for Aboriginal entrepreneurs," said Crofts, who is a Tourism Development Officer for the Ministry.

Those 200 or so businesses range from adventure attractions on the coast to North America's first Aboriginal owned and managed winery, the NK'Mip Cellars Winery in the interior of the British Columbia, a project of members of the Osoyoos Indian Band that produces Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Still in her 20s, Crofts has focused on a career in tourism as a tool for community development since she was a teenager.

In secondary school in Quesnel, British Columbia, she was involved for two years in the Canada program of the GTTP, the Canadian Academy of Travel & Tourism.

"It was one of my favorite classes," said Crofts.

"The focus was around career planning and getting us thinking about about where we could see ourselves in the tourism industry," said Crofts.

"What I liked best about it was that it was based on experiential learning, where you could actually get into the field, do work terms or job shadowing and actually meet with industry people and get a real feel for the industry instead of just reading about it or presenting about it in the classroom," said Crofts.

Her academic training includes a Bachelor of Tourism Management from Malespina University College, which is essentially a business administration degree with a specialization in tourism, said Crofts.

Her field experience, acquired before, during and after university, revolved around her hometown of Quesnel, where the timber industry is the main employer, where other industries are also needed, and where tourism is a natural option and fitted her interest in economic development and tourism.

Crofts's curriculum vitae includes work at the Cottonwood House Historic Site, which is operated by the Quesnel area school district and functions as a student-training center in tourism as well as vehicle for expanding the appeal of the Quesnel area as a visitor destination. (For an example of work by Travel & Tourism students at Quesnel Secondary School click here)

She learned about the lodging business by working for the two bed-and-breakfasts in nearby Barkerville Historic Town.

She developed a walking tour for Quesnel based on the life and work of Chow Dong Hoy, who immigrated from China in 1902 and built both a thriving store which made him rich and a photography business which has kept his name alive as a recorder of the ordinary lives of Chinese, Caucasians and Aboriginal people.

Before joining the Ministry in 2007 she managed the Quesnel Visitor Information Center.

Crofts would like to see more involvement by members of the Travel & Tourism Industry in education.

"There needs to be an increased collaboration between educational institutions and industry stake holders and people doing the hiring, like HR departments," said Crofts.

There is also a need for more internships, especially paid internships, said Crofts.

And university graduates with business-related degrees in tourism also have a challenge: educating industry leaders about the value of what are relatively new degree programs.

"They haven't really wrapped their heads around that idea," said Crofts.

Paul O’Sullivan, Ireland

KILLARNEY--- If you visit southwest Ireland’s lakes, beaches and mountains of County Kerry you easily might find yourself staying at The Malton, a four-star hotel in the center of Killarney. There also is a 90 percent or so chance that you’ll run into Paul O’Sullivan, the 33-year old deputy general manager keeping an eye on your stay.

O’Sullivan is a product of how the Irish educational system exposes teenagers to the Travel & Tourism industry and also of a thorough training by the Irish hotel industry.

“I tend to spend a little more time than I should in the hotel,” said O’Sullivan, who has worked at the hotel for almost two years. “Normally we are off mid-week when the hotel is at its quietest.”

As the deputy GM O’Sullivan is involved in managing and coordinating the activities of between 60 and 100 people, depending on the time of year, with summer being the busiest time. The hotel’s customers range from individuals coming to enjoy Kerry, to groups of more than 600 people. The groups include people coming for business conferences, and for weddings, which are a major part of the hotel’s business.

An important current project for O’Sullivan is working with individual hotel department heads to establish a “Standards of Performance” manual for each department. The manual is a useful management tool based on the well-established concept that “if you can count it then you can measure it; and if you can measure it, you can improve it.”

O’Sullivan’s career interest  was prompted by the two-year course in Travel & Tourism topics he took beginning when he was age 16 while a student at Killarney’s venerable St. Brendan’s Academy. (A sample of the work of current students at St.Brendan’s can be seen by linking onto case studies here.) Hotel management was perhaps a natural choice since his family at one time also operated a Bed and Breakfast catering to tourists. His formal training began at 18 when he started a four-and-half year management trainee course with a hotel company, and most of it was hands-on, practical training in each of the hotel’s 15 departments.

“You might spend 9 months in the kitchen department, 6 months in the accounts department, “said O’Sullivan, whereas you might spend 4 months in the bar and maybe 6 months in the restaurant. It varied, and it was certainly enjoyable.”

O’Sullivan broadened his experience by working at a big-city hotel in Dublin and by working at a hotel that specialized in catering to people on vacation. They included Ireland’s Taoiseach or Prime Minister, who likes to spend two weeks there each year. Along the way O’Sullivan decided he also needed to see what the world was like outside Ireland, and he spent a year in Australia, and traveled.

Like most career managers in the hospitality industry O’Sullivan has to work hard to balance the demands of job and family life, and he will soon be a father. Finding the balance is not easy. Conference organizers making decisions  about where to hold their meeting want to have their calls returned quickly, and other hotels are only to glad to step in and offer their services if the organizer is not happy.  Weddings require extra attention to detail.

O’Sullivan likes his work and also the segment of the hotel industry that he is in. “I more enjoy the smaller type of hotel. You can have a bigger impact. In a big hotel—you can get lost in them,” he said.

And you don’t have as much contact with guests, said O’Sullivan, something he enjoys.

 “I’d like to remain in the four star (category of hotel), and maybe hit the five star product at some point in my career and stay at the level of management I am at the moment, and hopefully move on up to the general manager role.”

At some point he may contemplate going into business for himself, but that is a long way in the future, and it would have to be in Kerry, preferably in Killarney.

“I’m happy to stay in Kerry, actually. This is where I’m based. I’m happy to stay here now in Killarney for the rest of my days. That’s my plan at the moment.