On 28-30 April, The International Forum “Creative Hospitality” was held in St.Petersburg. Tourism and hospitality, creative industries’ experts, executive authorities and industry representatives came together to discuss the issues of staffing for tourism industry and training professionals for developing creative industries.

The event was organized by the International Center of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality by St. Petersburg City Government, RANEPA St. Petersburg as part of the project “Center for Constant Education in the Field of Training and Professional Development of Staff for Tourism and Hospitality in the Northwestern Federal District”, and Kyrgyz Economic University named after Musa Ryskulbekov, under support of the St. Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development.

Marina Morozova, Head of the Chair of Tourism and Hotel Management at RANEPA St. Petersburg, General Director of the International Center of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality, told the audience about plans to create a new Bachelor’s program “Management for Creative Industries in Tourism”:

Learning outcomes will feature the following competencies: empathy, creative thinking, ability to work under pressure, passion for lifelong learning, never stop, and, of course, knowledge of applied methods — such as artificial intelligence tools, prompting, and all the modern technologies. And, for sure, a refined taste, and so on, since tourism is a public diplomacy, and all creative industries require a sophisticated taste and creativity.

Our student shared:

For us as future hospitality managers, it was especially valuable to learn how to implement artificial intelligence and augmented reality in real hotel business processes. Such events help us understand that creativity and technology are not abstract concepts, but tools that are already changing the industry and opening up new career paths.

Ekaterina Chernova, a third-year student in Hotel Management