Legislature(1995 - 1996)
03/23/1995 03:05 PM House ITT
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND TOURISM
March 23, 1995
3:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Beverly Masek, Chairman
Representative Alan Austerman, Vice Chairman
Representative Pete Kott
Representative Brian Porter
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Jeannette James
Representative Irene Nicholia
Representative Caren Robinson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Presentation: Need for Education and Training in Field of Alaska
Tourism
WITNESS REGISTER
JAY KANDAMPULLY, Ph.D.
Alaska Institute of Tourism
School of Management
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775
Phone: 474-5527
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented Need for Education and Training in
Field of Alaska Tourism
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 95-6, SIDE A
Number 006
The House Special Committee on International Trade and Tourism was
called to order by Chairman Beverly Masek at 3:05 p.m. Members
present at the call to order were Representatives Masek, Austerman,
Kott and Porter. Members absent were Representatives James,
Nicholia and Robinson.
Number 085
DR JAY KANDAMPULLY, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, FAIRBANKS,
testifying from Fairbanks, noted the two points he would address
which were education and training. Related issues stemming from
those two topics are quality, marketing and management. Before
going any further he began to outline his background.
Number 136
DR. KANDAMPULLY volunteered information regarding the Alaska
Institute of Tourism (AIT), which he established at the School of
Management at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF). It is a
non-profit institute that serves the Alaska tourism industry and
the communities. To determine needs, he interviewed managers and
owners of tourism and related businesses. This research pointed to
the immediate and crucial need for training and education in order
to improve the quality of service we offer to visitors, and to
increase job opportunities for Alaskan citizens. The majority of
people involved or entering into the tourism business have little
or no experience, expertise or understanding about the business,
the industry or the customer.
DR. KANDAMPULLY feels education and training are the fundamental
backbone tools to the tourism industry development. The state
needs to consider fundamental approaches to move the tourism
development process in Alaska into the next stage. He separated
the needs into three stages: Educational need; training need; and
management, marketing and quality issues. There is serious concern
about the quality of service that the state provides and the level
of satisfaction created for the visitors. The importance of
service personnel, their skills, and personality traits outweigh
any other aspect from the visitor's perspective.
DR. KANDAMPULLY said tourism education and training needs to start
at the high school level when career interests begin to formulate
and before students decide not to continue higher education. He
added people need tools which they can immediately apply. Tourism
is an area which many people enter into as a transitional stage or
on a part-time basis, i.e. a student. For these reasons, tourism
education and training becomes crucial because those are the people
that probably have no interest in making tourism a career. Yet,
they are the very people who are serving our visitors. We need a
system supporting, promoting and connecting the industry needs to
that of the programs within schools, colleges, technical
institutions and the university. All these systems are currently
in place, they just need to be interlinked to work together.
Number 263
DR. KANDAMPULLY noted the people already working in the industry
need to get training. Also, we do not currently have a system
where the experience of the person is of importance or accredited
into the education system. A statewide system will provide
uniformity. Integration of education and training within the
industry will foster recognition and utilization of such education
and training by the business community. As industry experience
becomes part of the education, employees within the industry will
be inclined to undertake such combined education aiming for
personal development .
DR. KANDAMPULLY explained that he has been teaching a tourism
program in a Fairbanks high school since February. North Star
Borough School District has also adopted the program into their
school curriculum. The program consists of theory and practical
experience so it is vocational in nature. The theory portion
addresses the culture, nature and attractions of Alaska. He also
teaches technical skills like waitering and valuable reception
skills, such as telephone answering, which they can use in tourism
or any industry they choose to enter. He has managers who come in
from the industry to sit in on classes to evaluate and help teach
the students in different fields. That's the core part of his
program. The second part of the program is the internship. The
main purpose of the internship is to associate the students with
the industry and for the industry to get to know the students. It
is a very short summer internship.
Number 311
DR. KANDAMPULLY announced that the school program has been
accredited by the community college so any participants will
receive six college credits. That may help to influence a youth to
continue their education beyond high school and, thereby, achieve
higher positions within the industry. This is a similar system
like that utilized in European countries.
REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER asked how many hours of instruction the
students receive in the standard high school program, and if the
program is administered during or outside of the school day.
DR. KANDAMPULLY responded the total hours are 92; a full semester
program. The schedule is 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. every Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday. He added there are eight different school
districts looking into this program and the Juneau school district
has adopted it into the school curriculum which will start next
spring.
REPRESENTATIVE ALAN AUSTERMAN asked if Dr. Kandampully, himself,
teaches the program in the Fairbanks high school and if so, then
will the Juneau school district have their own teacher?
DR. KANDAMPULLY replied that he does indeed teach the program in
Fairbanks. In Juneau, they will have their own teacher and he will
be helping them, the same way he has a school teacher in Fairbanks
that co-teaches with him. However, this teacher only teaches about
three classes, he teaches the rest. This is a concern the other
school districts have raised. He plans to arrange a training
program for teachers and individuals interested in getting involved
with this education system.
REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN pondered the costs involved in outfitting
all the schools in the state with such a program.
Number 385
DR. KANDAMPULLY affirmed the dilemma. To now, the school districts
are footing the costs out of their own funds. He doesn't know how
far or how long they'll be able to continue that. He mentioned
that last week when he traveled to Ketchikan to teach, he was
reimbursed for his plane fare only. He personally is dedicated to
this program and has been and is willing to put his time and money
into it.
REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN posed questions regarding AIT. Does he
have a separate budget for it, how big is it and how many people
are involved?
DR. KANDAMPULLY answered that it is just him and a student
assistant. There is no budget for the institute. At present,
Anchorage Cold Storage is financing it.
REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN queried if he is working to obtain his own
budget so he could actually train-the-trainer type of thing like
the Division of Tourism is with the Alaska Host Program.
DR. KANDAMPULLY stated he would prefer that. A benefit he has is
the managers within the industry know his background and expertise
and realize the quality of training the students are receiving is
what they are looking for. He encourages teachers, who wish to be
involved in this program, to work within the industry for a summer
job, like an internship, to better understand the technical aspects
and skills required. This will naturally lead to greater knowledge
of the industry itself and provide healthy interaction between the
industry and the educators.
Number 440
CHAIRMAN MASEK inquired what the Division of Tourism is doing with
respect to training.
DR. KANDAMPULLY explained that he has approached many people and
organizations within the industry yet, most don't have any type of
training skills, training managers or any training approaches at
all. They are interested in participating in training that he
would arrange across the state.
CHAIRMAN MASEK clarified her question as being what does the
Division of Tourism currently use for training and how old is their
plan?
DR. KANDAMPULLY indicated that he knows of the Alaska Host Program
and he is, in fact, one of the trainers. He went through the
training program himself. Dr. Kandampully related that the program
is 15 years old and was purchased from British Columbia 10 years
ago. The way the system is set up is it is difficult for anyone to
provide that training within that structure. There were no
training sessions offered in Fairbanks for all of last year. There
are so many other responsibilities and duties that the training
falls to the wayside. Of the trainers that are available, many do
not have sufficient knowledge, experience, background and
understanding within in the industry in which they're to train.
The Alaska Host Program addresses customer services, and the "norm"
now is to exceed the customer expectations.
Number 500
REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN elaborated on the Alaska Host Program. It
is a customer service type training where one goes into an existing
tourism business and ensures that their employees have the proper
skills to greet and meet a customer and make the customer happy so
that they want to return. There are no other programs within in
the state that are educational towards the industry itself, and to
show why one would like to be involved in the industry.
DR. KANDAMPULLY interjected there are a couple other programs that
have some of these aspects of all these things involved. However,
because they are not interlinking, not complementary, the students
who go through those programs come to a dead stand-still. There is
nowhere else to advance. He referred to the places that conduct
these programs, courses or classes, and said that is all they do
and the training is not recognized by other institutions across the
state. We need to take a broader perspective. As far as the
customer training is concerned, he was referring not to the skill
part of it rather, the personality skills in the aspect of
"know-how" versus "know-why." He said he feels "know-why" is more
important and brings out the creativity in the trainees/employees
if they understand why something is done. Then when a dilemma
occurs, they can draw on their own experience and creativity to
remedy the situation. This has become a crucial issue as far as
the quality of service is concerned.
REPRESENTATIVE AUSTERMAN divulged that the Alaska Host Program was
created in Alaska about 20 years ago. It was run about one or two
years, then dropped. Canada thought it was such a great program
that they took it, refined it, and made it the good program that it
is. Two years ago, Alaska woke up again, went to Canada and
borrowed it back and that's how we're into the program.
Number 557
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, CHAIRMAN
MASEK adjourned the meeting at 3:50 p.m.
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