INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSES FOR TOURISM PROFESSIONALS: EXPERIENCE FOR UKRAINE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the experience and features of international programs and training courses for tourism specialists. This experience can be useful for the current and post-war development of tourism in Ukraine. The relevance of the topic is substantiated by the fact that staff development is one of the most important and promising areas of human resources management and factors of successful activity of the entire tourism industry. For achieving this purpose, we used the main general scientific and special methods, in particular, literature analysis and system analysis for the study of international methods and programs of professional development in tourism. Some successful training programs and advanced training courses, in particular the Skills Framework for Tourism of the Singapore Tourism Board and the TUI Group Academy, are analyzed in detail, and their priority areas of activity are outlined. The work done on the study of professional training and staff development in tourism allowed us to draw the following conclusions: employee training is the most important means of achieving the strategic goals of the organization; training is the most important means of increasing the value of the organization’s human resources; there is a huge variety of training programs designed for different categories of employees – from ordinary employees to senior management. The variety of training methods used can be divided into two broad groups: country-level training and corporate training. The study also solved the following tasks: analyzed the essence of staff development; summarized the methods and concepts of professional development; studied the peculiarities of professional development in Western countries and in Ukraine; also considered the strategy of professional training of staff and considered the factors necessary for its implementation.