Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of male employees in tourist firms decreased. Women's qualifications in
terms of education and language skills also worsened.
The data on respondents' status presented in Table 2 confirms the fact
that the firms' owners and managers are reluctant to complete question-
naires as compared with rank-and-file employees.
TABLE 2 Distribution of Respondents by Status
Respondent's status (%)
2009
2011
Owner
7.7
8
Director
7.7
22
Manager
75
64
Other
9.6
2
Non-response
4
The needs assessment of the labor market revealed that although the
former Soviet Union population was famous for its good educational level,
today knowledge in marketing, tourism, public relations, human resource
management, IT, marketing, business management, advertising, psychol-
ogy, restaurants and hospitality, and foreign languages are in high demand
to adapt to the market economy environment. In particular, in the 2009
survey, 46 percent of firms expressed the need for staff training, 16 per-
cent—qualification improvement, 34 percent—retraining, and 12 percent
needed consulting services basically in the listed fields. Most respondents
were optimistic about the future prospects of their firms: 80 percent ex-
pected firm growth, 18 percent expected no change, and 2 percent were
going to close or to merge with another enterprise. Among external bar-
riers, competitors and inspection by numerous state inspection agencies
were examined. Only about 7 percent of firms mentioned large tourist en-
terprises as the most serious competitors, 47 percent—medium size firms,
and 46 percent—small firms. It should be noted that most of the tourist
firms are small, with less than ten employees.
The respondents' answers to the open-ended question “What measures
should be undertaken by central and local governments in order to attract
more tourists to Kazakhstan?” demonstrate concerns about the need in
improving tourism infrastructure, roads, and service quality—these prob-
lems are addressed to local governments. From the central government
the respondents expect more effective activities directed at advertising the
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