"The University graduates are confident in the future, in themselves and in their knowledge"

In an interview for the St Petersburg University website, they talk about what they remember about studying at the University, how the hospitality industry is changing today, how hotels can contribute to the development of regions and towns, and share their vision of the future of tourism business in Russia. 

Could you please share your impressions of studying at the University? 

Aleksei Kazmin. I have a long way with the University. I graduated from the Faculty of Economics in 2007, completed my doctoral studies in 2010, and defended my dissertation in 2016. At the University, I received a strong education and was prepared for research. Studying at the University means that you are in the library and computer classes 24/7. You are always re-reading articles and looking for new information. Nadezhda Pakhomova, Professor in the Department of Economic Theory and the History of Economic Thought at St Petersburg University, inspired me to delve into research and involved me in the research projects in innovation and economics of industrial markets. This may sound unattractive for some of you. Yet, the University can equip you with knowledge as much as you can take. I am grateful for instilling a passion in me for economics to Viktor Riazanov, Nadezhda Pakhomova, and Knut Richter to name just a few.

Studying and taking exams was also good fun. Our graduation party took place in the Tauride Garden. When you put on the robe and receive your diploma, you feel tremendous joy from having gone through everything. For me, studying at the University is, I am not afraid to say, one of the main achievements in my life. I wanted to study at St Petersburg University and I am proud to have graduated from the University. 

I am pleased to be back at the University. In my opinion, today it is essential for universities to keep in touch with graduates who, on the one hand, share the University’s traditions and values and, on the other, represent the new wave and can see interesting details in business. The stronger the connection between graduates and the University, the more beneficial both for the University staff, students, graduates and the University itself. 

Kamaya Brius. Since I was 12 years old, I was determined to study at the Faculty of Journalism, although my family had some doubts that I would succeed. Nobody believed in me. Yet, I was admitted, on the government-funded basis. I am still proud of it, because for me it was a challenge. Despite everything, I was eager to study at St Petersburg University. I wanted to prove to myself and all my relatives that I could do it. 

My memories of the University should probably be divided into two parts, since different levels of education gave me completely different impressions. When I was a bachelor’s student, we had students from all over the world. We had trips together, played sports and took part in the Club of the cheerful and sharp-witted (KVN). This connected us a lot. We had a very good company where everyone knew each other, whatever your age or year of study. It seems to me that I built all my business contacts during that period. What I remember from being a master’s student is that I delved into my studies completely. I have a special gratitude to Liliia Duskaeva. She was the first to teach us leisure journalism. She has a phenomenal amount of knowledge. She constantly raises the bar for herself and is always eager to discover something new. It was an excellent school. At that time, I realised that I knew nothing about the Russian language. 

Nataliia Dolotskaia. I studied the programme ‘Applied Ethics’. I can’t say, like my colleagues, that I always wanted to get into philosophy, but after my bachelor’s degree I studied the master’s programme and then pursued my doctoral studies. I definitely did not regret my initial choice. I would like to express my gratitude to all the members of the academic staff at our department, my research supervisor Denis Shchukin and Head of the Department Vadim Perov. They created a warm, friendly atmosphere. The learning process was fascinating. We were always immersed in something new. And the lectures were not everything that I was attracted by. What is more important is that lecturers were on a par with the students who come to the University after school. This is logical, since only being equal ensures a constructive dialogue, which underpinned all seminars at the Institute. We discussed philosophical texts, often using the Socratic method. The most important thing is that when you find yourself in such atmosphere you are not afraid to speak out, even if you are wrong. The process of thinking may be even more crucial than drawing a conclusion. 

What qualities, in your opinion, make the University staff, students and alumni different? 

Aleksei Kazmin. Firstly, it is structured and systematic thinking, and secondly, lightness and flight of thought. People who have graduated from the University are confident in future, in themselves and in their knowledge, confident in what they are doing. Well, the third quality that the Faculty of Economics has given to me is attention to detail, the ability to correctly calculate large volumes of numbers, focus not on small tasks, but look into the future and "beyond the horizon". 

Kamaya Brius. There is an expression: "A good journalist is an amateur in everything". This phrase can be applied to both PR and marketing, because in these areas professionalism implies that you can do almost everything and are able to immerse yourself in any task, even if you have never encountered it before. For example, I ended up in the hospitality industry almost by accident. For me, it was something unknown. I did not have the slightest idea how and what to do. Yet, the more I got to know the product, the more I realised how many small nuances there were. In my opinion, the ability to focus and immerse yourself (even from scratch) in each task is probably something what makes the University graduates different. 

When we are looking for new employees, we always pay attention to what university they have graduated from. Not just because St Petersburg University is a brand. First of all, the point is that when we meet a graduate of the University, we know what school they have. They have an inner core, self-discipline, and have a deep understanding of time management. This means that they will be able to cope with the pool of tasks that they are to encounter in the first months of work. The company has a large number of projects, and every day many orders arrive even before you show up at the office. Your ability to quickly navigate this stream is largely determined by what kind of school you have gone through. 

Nataliia Dolotskaia. As a person with a degree in philosophy, I will add that the University’s students and graduates have a developed analytical component in terms of building cause-and-effect relationships and the ability to ask the question "why and what for". This is crucial, especially when diving into a new area or getting familiar with a new tool. 

The University still maintains a high academic load, unlike other universities. Without being consistent, analysing your own actions and being competent in time management, you will not get a degree from St Petersburg University. 

How does the knowledge you have gained help you in your current work? What skills are particularly useful? 

Aleksei Kazmin. Almost all the subjects that I have studied at the University are useful to me. Perhaps, this is what makes the Faculty of Economics different. Yet even then, in the mid-2000s, all courses were tailored for practice. Corporate finance, enterprise economics, econometrics, economics of industrial markets, micro- and macroeconomics. I still study these disciplines to constantly keep myself on my toes. When you find the books you have studied at the University, you restore the material in your memory, and the necessary tools, formulas, and calculations are always in your head. The University have taught me how to count correctly and quickly, understand cause-and-effect relationships, and reveal hidden relationships that are not obvious from the point of view of numbers and materials. Of course, many of the subjects that we took during the introductory course were useful for general development. 

Kamaya Brius. The University taught me to quickly process colossal amounts of information and communicate successfully with any person. After seven years at the Faculty of Journalism, you can make friends with anyone, regardless of their temperament, views, or mood, and communicate effectively. 

The University has also taught me how to cope with any stress and acquire psychological resistance to any external stimuli, a load with a gigantic amount of information that you need to process, understand, and study. Unlike Aleksei Kazmin, I do not have a degree in economics. Yet, when my managers come to me with financial indicators or ask me to calculate a financial model, I start brainstorming, which evidences that my knowledge is not superficial. You need to understand what you are focusing on. This is exactly what we have been taught at the Faculty of Journalism. 

Nataliia Dolotskaia. During your studies, you can decide on your future career path and learn to see the world picture holistically, since you can understand philosophical movements only by understanding their structure and their connection with contemporary historical and cultural events and phenomena. This, of course, influences your so-called "general education". In the programme ‘Applied Ethics’, you form your own value system, understand how you look at the world, what is close to you and what is not. You study different subject areas: biological ethics, political ethics, and legal ethics to name just a few. A fairly large block of disciplines that are related to business and economic ethics only confirmed my desire to further develop in the field of marketing. I received my second degree in this area of study. I know that some of my groupmates went into public service after graduation, while others are involved in public relations. 

Aleksei Kazmin. After some time we, i.e. an economist, a journalist and a philosopher, found ourselves in the same team. This is great! Our company manages 15 projects. We are developing a large ecosystem of products and projects in the hospitality, entertainment, hotels and business industries around Lake Ladoga. 

How have the idea of organising recreation and the needs of citizens changed in Russia in recent years? 

Aleksei Kazmin. Tremendously. Guests have become more demanding and at the same time have clear expectations of what they would like to get for their money. They are making requests to expand infrastructure, improve the quality of service, so that hotels become more customer-centric. Hoteliers, adapting to them, improve their product and form a new agenda. Many fascinating projects are appearing in Russia, the industry is actively developing. Just 20 years ago, people went mostly on outbound tourist trips. We practically imported the service sector and, from an economic point of view, lost money on this. Now, the domestic market has become attractive, both for investment and tourism. So, being on holiday in Russia has become popular and predictable. Our team’s job is to formulate the right product offerings and correctly convey information to guests. 

In my opinion, today few people are interested in simply staying in a hotel, although this is an important component of being on holiday. Competition begins for various experiences, locations, services, activities, infrastructure and opportunities for guests. You need to be able to differentiate yourself from competitors, build a good marketing policy, look for partners, think about transfers and related services. Yet, if there are shortcomings in the basic attributes, for example, a person did not get enough sleep because the bed is hard or the pillow is uncomfortable, the overall impression will be blurred and they will give a low rating. 

Kamaya Brius. It seems to me that today it is necessary to provide a 360-degree care to guests, since when planning a holiday, they choose not a hotel, but what they can do and what atmosphere they can spend three or four free days in. This is a very valuable resource, especially for people living in large cities. Nowadays, when organising a holiday, the emphasis is primarily on choosing a location. This is our strong competitive advantage, since the hotels of the Tochka na Karte chain, for example, are always located near ponds or rivers and all the rooms are panoramic. Our attention to guests is evident in every touch, from the choice of pillows to the atmosphere at the reception or in the rooms. They should feel by the smell, by the surroundings, by the view from the window, even by the air humidity, that they will feel good and comfortable with us. 

Probably, our task is to penetrate into the consciousness of the guests even before they begin to plan a holiday, and to cling to any reason for contact with us. It is necessary to enter its information agenda not just in the form of advertising, but to use information channels to start an indirect dialogue, attract attention and show that this is not just a hotel, but practically an entire philosophy. 

Nataliia Dolotskaia. It turns out that we formulate an idea of an ideal holiday ahead and then we match this idea perfectly. When you want to rest and reboot, it is not always the case that you have a clear idea of what you want to get. More often than not, it happens just the other way around. We come up with our own proposal, which will form your picture of what you would like to get. I will add that, in my opinion, the influence of the brand has increased in recent years. When you choose a specific hotel, you consider its "name" as a guarantee that your holiday will truly be of high quality. 

Why do you think the guests are more understandable? 

Kamaya Brius. We have guests who have reoriented themselves from traveling to the countries and expensive hotels where they used to travel. They have seen much and therefore have high expectations of what their holiday should be like. We understand what to focus on and what level of service to strive for. Ten years ago, we saw guests as married couples with or without children. Today, the information about them is analysed down to the atoms. 

Integrating something new into a landscape or into a historical space has long been a general global trend, and your company has experience in such projects, including a park hotel with the operating museum and the chain of hotels that have minimal impact on nature. Why is it essential to respect the environment, natural or historical?

Aleksei Kazmin. Our task is to create a product that would be a guarantee of quality. 

Our company primarily develops the Leningrad Region, the Republic of Karelia, and small towns. Traditionally, hotels are located where it is logical to locate a hotel from a business and marketing research point of view. In our case, we open hotels in those locations where it is not obvious at first glance to open them. It is important for us to think comprehensively and conjugately to ensure that each point adds meaning and value to the other, but at the same time is different from the others and takes into account local features. The hotel is built so that it is not dissonant with the environment, but is part of the environment. We have driven more than one circle around Lake Ladoga and understand not only the pains of this region, but also its enormous prospects. From 2017 to 2024, we were witnessing colossal transformations there in terms of improving the quality of the product. 

We have another big project. Together with the operator "Igora Tour", we participated in the competition of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives under the patronage of the Government of the Russian Federation. We had a task to develop non-obvious tourist routes in such a way as to maximally integrate them into the attractions and local identity of each region. As part of this accelerator, we have developed three tourism products. Yes, it is really important to develop regions, and we succeed, especially when we develop fascinating conceptual routes and try to correctly and clearly convey information about them to our target audience. 

Kamaya Brius. The places in which our hotels are located are absolutely unobvious, but attractive due to their natural characteristics. In the town of Lodeynoye Pole, for example, the hotel is located right on the banks of the Svir River with the juiciest orange sunsets throughout the Leningrad Region. Initially, we opened a hotel there, and then the town itself appeared in the information field as a tourist destination. A stream of tourists began to gather there, going on road trips around Lake Ladoga. Now, you can go around the lake entirely by car, since there are good roads, quality infrastructure and hotels where you can stay. These are not glamping villages or tents or hotels built in the 1960s and remaining unchanged in terms of service and food. 

I will add that our tourism products are being developed for a person who is not going on a large-scale trip, but wants to get away with the family for a weekend in a country hotel. Every contact they make with our services will therefore be imbued with this locality. Any dish they order will be tied to the authentic cuisine and products produced in this particular region. If they want to ride ATVs or snowmobiles, they will have original routes, which specialists from the active recreation centre lay out together with local historians, checking for safety and accessibility. There are stops along the journey, during which they can get familiar with the history of the place. 

What do you think is required to develop domestic tourism in Russia? What is missing?

Aleksei Kazmin. Today, this industry is actively growing. In the world, the average percentage of tourism’s contribution to GDP is 5 to 6 %, but in our country, it is still at the level of 3%, and the goal is to grow to 5% in the coming years, which means there is room to grow and develop. 

Still, domestic tourism is a basic need. People need somewhere to rest and recover, especially since everyone works in stressful conditions of digitalisation and constant interaction with gadgets. Awareness and a reset are needed and the leisure industry will thrive. This is already happening. Our government is announcing many plans, including a project for the construction of the Five Seas and Lake Baikal resorts. In future, many hotels will appear throughout Russia. Much is being done to restart this industry, to make it even more progressive and economically attractive. For example, a zero percent VAT rate has been introduced for hotels, and subsidies and grants have been issued. 

At the same time, some studies show that the average income of hotel and restaurant employees is significantly lower than in other related industries. It is necessary to increase the prestige of the profession through colleges and universities so that talented people study in these areas, but employers also have a task to create such working conditions that it would be truly engrossing to work. In my opinion, many academic programmes are not adapted to today’s realities. Students are not taught how to develop soft skills in communication, how to solve problems under stress, how to deal with guests who are going wrong, and how to manage their emotions. We especially need to actively develop communication skills. 

Kamaya Brius. The development of tourism in Russia is impossible without well-trained personnel. I do not mean the level of Switzerland. Yet, we must raise it to make the profession attractive, since there is potential, good earnings and career development here. It is necessary to train staff and change the approach to the concept of work in the hospitality industry and, in particular, in service. Management positions can also be assigned to attracted specialists from different regions of Russia who have experience in other large projects. The middle and line staff undergo training, delve into the agenda of the Tochka na Karte hotel chain, the Dacha Wintera park-hotel, the Igora resort, and other assets we have. They are proud to work with these brands. This is partly how we provide a high level of service. 

Nataliia Dolotskaia. I would say that domestic tourism in Russia lacks structure and clarity of the proposal. If we are talking about the Tochka na Karte, a client knows what to expect from a holiday in these places: tranquillity, solitude, and reboot. Yet, more often than not, even with a specific request, you may be at a loss where to go. A person may have heard of noisy Moscow, where a lot of events take place, St Petersburg, the cities of the Golden Ring of Russia, or the million-plus cities accessible in the nearest part of the country. It often happens that you know some geographical name, but you do not understand what you can do in this city. In my opinion, there is not enough information available to everyone that would help clients solve their problems. It should be created in cooperation between the companies in tourism business and government agencies.

Are you considering the possibility of cooperation with St Petersburg University? If so, in what areas? What kind of experts or students would you be interested in involving in your projects? 

Aleksei Kazmin. Now, we see three main areas of how we can collaborate: internships, urban planning, and our lectures about the hospitality industry. 

We have already started working with the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University and are building an agenda for cooperation, which will include, among other things, internships. One student completed an internship in the summer. We assigned a mentor and determined an individual development plan. 

We have plans to cooperate with the Summer School of Urbanism, which is part of of the Graduate School of Management at St Petersburg University. We will continue to work on the development of the eastern coast of Lake Ladoga and decide how to make the town of Olonets, the town of Lodeynoye Pole, the rural locality of Vidlitsa, and the rural locality of Staraya Ladoga more attractive and captivating for tourists, so that they become magnets for attracting our guests.

Participants in the St Petersburg University Urbanist Summer School propose ideas for the development of popular tourist towns in the Leningrad Region

As representatives of the hospitality industry, we can offer lectures, workshops for students and tell them about what we are involved in, showing this area from the inside. If we say that we need to increase the significance and prestige of the profession, we should start with ourselves. For example, I can tell future economists that they can build a career not only in a bank or an IT company, but also in the hospitality industry, where they also think in terms of macroeconomics and work with artificial intelligence. Kamaya Brius can tell students in journalism why this area is captivating for future representatives of the media. 

We also have a project in the field of geoanalytics and spatial development, which we are doing with other partners, i.e. marking on geographical data services. This task bridges mathematics, programming, and geography. It seems to me that we can think about the prospects for developing cooperation with St Petersburg University in this direction.