This paper presents the results of research into the values which are adhered to a Russian tour operator and the employees' personal business values. The empirical data of this research includes the company's internal documents, four in-depth interviews with senior management employees, and a survey of 98 employees. The value profiles of the organization and its employees were identified, as well as the areas in which they converged and diverged. This research shed some light on those values which are characteristic of a tourism organization, and attempted to fill the gap in the extant knowledge on this topic in the academic literature.
TopThe Russian Hospitality And Tourism Industry
The socio-economic changes that have occurred in Russia over the past decades had a profound effect on the H&T industry. In 2014, the H&T industry’s contribution to the Russian GDP was around 2.5%, and the number of people employed in the tourism industry exceeded 1 million (Federal State Statistics Service).
The total number of trips made by Russian citizens to non-CIS countries increased from 6,405,000 in 2005 to 17,259,000 in 2014 (Federal State Statistics Service). According to expert estimates of domestic tourism, around 30% of Russians spend their holidays within the country, while only 5% go abroad annually (AIF). Therefore, domestic tourism is the only holiday option for the majority of Russians. However, the flow of people coming into the country is several times smaller than the outbound flow, and shows virtually no positive trend. The number of international tourist trips to Russia in 2005 and 2014 was 2,251,000 and 2,408,000 respectively (Federal State Statistics Service). According to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) presented at the World Economic Forum, Russia in 2015 holds 45th place out of the 141 countries listed (WEForum). As a result, the data indicated above demonstrates that Russia is more of a generator of international tourism flows, than a recipient.
Despite this, although the H&T industry has not traditionally been a flagship of the Russian economy, since last two decades it has nonetheless demonstrated quite a high rate of growth.
The most important driving forces of H&T industry development in Russia are predominantly in outbound tourism, which includes (Furmanov, Balaeva, & Predvoditeleva, 2012):