ARMENIAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION IMPLEMENTS RETRAINING PROGRAM
FOR SPECIALISTS OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
08-02-2008 14:00:00 | Armenia | Economy
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armeian Hotel
Association (AHA) was founded in 2006. 15 hotels are members of
the AHA that will implement a retraining program for
medium-level managers of hotels, was announced at the February
7 round table.
According to AHA chairman Hakob Hakobian, this program is a
continuation of the 2007 training program on "certified courses
of hospitality industry". 4 out of 20 participants of the
program received certificates of managing specialists, 8
received certificates of course instructors of the American
Hotel and Lodging Association. The certified course instructors
will conduct a retraining program for middle-level hotel
managers in February-April, which will start with courses for
employees of Dilijan hotels.
The AHA executive director Lusine Minasian said that the
retraining program will help improve the quality of hotel
services and increase incomes.
The USAID-financed Competitive Armenian Private Sector
(CAPS) program assisted with foundation of the AHA and now
provides support for its activities. The CAPS director Hayley
Alexander said that in the past few years about 50 hotels and
over 100 restaurants have been built in Armenia, most of which
are ready to receive international tourists but some hotels,
especially those in marzes, need to improve qualification of
their staff. In his words, 6 managers and 14 course instructors
have been retrained under CAPS programs. The CAPS plans to
finance retraining of up to 55 certified course instructors.
According to course advisor Jenifer Caloun, there is a
necessity to implement programs on hospitality industry in all
developed countries. H. Hakobian said that Armenia is the first
Transcaucasian country where USAID assists with training of
hospitality industry experts.
The head of the tourism department of the RA ministry of
trade and economic development Mekhak Apresian said that over 70
hotel objects currently operate in Armenia. There are at least
10 thousand hotel places in Armenia, including apartments for
tourists.