Tourism in Kyrgyzstan - point of view from a representative of HoReCa Club Association.
*she closed it* *Maggie speaks Kyrgyz language* *We won’t be doing any shootings outside, will we? * *Is everyone ready? Wait, Eliza’s is preparing her coffee* *Such a cool make-up artist. Probably paying her a lot * Hello dear friends! Today we are interviewing Gulzat Raimbekova. You will learn about HoReCa, how did we start working together, and what awaits us in the spere of cultural tourism and tourism in general.
Let us greet Gulzat. Hello! Hello, Maggie! Welocme! Thank you so much! How are you? I’m fine, thank you! So, let us start our interview? Let’s go. *Gulzat speaks Kyrgyz* *After we sat down and prepared* Couple of words about yourself so that our viewers may have an idea of who you are.
Well, first of all thank you for coming, I’ve been waiting for you. My name is Gulzat Raimbekova I am a director..we have “HoReCa Club” association and we also have “HoReCa Plus”. The second one is a journal which exists for over ten years for hoteliers and restaurateurs. Apart from researches, there are also ideas for businesses and other types of news in that spere From the name of that journal, we often hold various awards ceremonies and exhibitions, in other words...
*Maggie speaks Kyrgyz* So, as I have said, there are awards, exhibitions, forums and everything else from the name of the journal. That is done in order to develop the hospitality sphere in Kyrgyzstan even more. Great. Can you tell us how did you meet Kyrgyzfriends? It is a long story actually.
The first time we met was in Karakol, we met with one of your representatives. There was a talk about this idea, that there is this type of project and we got very interested in it because the aim of this project and our journal’s is the same – to develop hospitality and to help other entrepreneurs to grow in this sphere. After that in Bishkek we were looking for a meeting. We have organized it here with your management. What I liked is that we understood each other clearly from the first meeting.
We were able to clarify the amount of work and started it right afterwards, without wasting any time You have visited the 10 villages with us. Can you tell us about your job that was done through out trips. My job was to give the basis and the understanding of the hospitality that is not in our genes, the Kyrgyz hospitality, but the hospitality that you should give and show to the international guests. In other words, I focused on the difference between the guests, how should the host get prepared for the meeting of each type of guests.. I mean we are not calling them clients, we are calling them guests, but in the Kyrgyz understand the guests are *our* guests. That is why we had to focus on understanding the difference between siblings and international tourist and how should the hosts treat each type correctly.
Which village did you enjoy the most Given the fact that we have been able to travel through the whole Kyrgyzstan, I liked each one of them and in every village, I have left a piece of my heart because each village was very open and greeted us with pure joy. This trait is actually missing in the city, due to the rush that we live in. In the same time, the most memorable was the Kyzyl-Beyit village, I never get tired of telling my friends about it. After my visit, I go back to it in my thoughts at least twice per day.
I am always drawing analogies and analyzing it and every time it is interesting for me to get back mentally to those people every time. What exactly did you like about Kyzyl-Beyit? The authenticity of the village and the people. I have not seen a single village throughout the whole Kyrgyzstan even though I have worked with other projects and visited many villages, that would be anything like Kyzyl-Beyit.
They have such a high motivation. Most of the people wonder; why do the villagers stay in Kyzyl-Beyit. There is no infrastructure which makes the life even more difficult. tourism. But once I have talked to the villagers myself, I understood how important is it for them to develop in the sphere of All of that is done in order to be able to stay in that place and to let their children live in that place. Since there are no young people, due to the absence of the perspective, they want to give them a good reason to stay there. What I mean by “young people” is everyone below 50 years old. They have all moved to Russia for work.
Would you be able to live in Kyzyl-Beyit? I like visiting it. I would love to go back there to have a rest, even your soul is at rest in the atmosphere of the village. The process of getting there is so interesting and even extremal at times. You are able to see the things out there that you will never be able to see in the city. But the question of living there is a hard one, I guess I should have been born as a descendant of the tribe that lives in the village in order to fully understand them and to be able to stay there forever. Out of ten villages then, where would you be able to live? Each village is unique in its own way. Every single one of them has its own history and legend.
Personally, as a city dweller, once I compare the village life to the urban life, of course I see a huge difference, but in the same time I would be able to live in any of the village, but the most favorite is the village Lesnoye. I would like to live there. The nature, infrastructure, springs, I mean you may live there, work there and enjoy your life at the same time. I guess the happiest people live there. Oh yeah, they are very hospitable, and their forest...they are doing a really good job. Great job. Exactly, they work and enjoy the nature and the energy of the Earth just flows through them directly. Was there any memorable moment that was the funniest throughout the trainings? Well, the funniest moment was when I was drawing analogy of the bathroom.
Every group was laughing so hard when we were showing them how is it possible to make them look good and in what state were they in the moment of the training. Everyone saw themselves and their mistakes there. They saw the irony and they were able to laugh even at themselves. Are there any advices for development of cultural tourism? For cultural tourism I would advise the locals to learn the history of the places that they live in. Frequently we stumble upon a fact that the hostess would love to have tourists, however she does not exactly understand why would tourists come to their area and if there is any interesting thing to look at and do nearby. There are many hosts who do now the value of the place that they live in, they have been to the places nearby and can recommend them to their guests, but there are much more of the ones who do not understand why do the guests visit them. What is the most frequent mistake that can be done by a local upon his meeting with tourists? The most frequent mistake is when our listeners are meeting their international guests according to the traditions of the Kyrgyz people.
When you are welcoming a local person, there is a huge difference. We have seen it ourselves that when we have arrived, they were loading tables with food. Some were even sacrificing a sheep, if you remember. I have always focused on that moment; I have always said that even if the guests start visiting your house frequently, you do not have to sacrifice a sheep and serve meat like we are used to do here for the Kyrgyz people. Because an international guest will not understand the fact that this is a gesture of highest level of the respect. cherished.
However, they will understand your effort if you have prepared clean bedsheets, warm house and served a good and beautiful breakfast, that would be enough and that would be Several advices for the ones who would like to start their business in tourism and how to become one of the best? I think that in order to become the best, you need to find your uniqueness at first. What is it? What differs you from the other guest-houses? You must have your own thing that would be different from the other hosts and other travel companies and etc. In other words, what is the reason for your guests to visit you? You must create your own legend and history. It must be good enough for the tourists to start talking about it, to start spreading it and to have a will to visit you. All of the international tourists love legends. I mean we all loved fairy-tales in our childhood.
That is why even adults love some good legend. If you find your uniqueness, if you add some good legend to it, I believe you will be successful. Is there anything unique about KYRGYZFRIENDS? If yes, then what is it? The uniqueness of Kyrgyzfriends is that you guys are truly different from the other organizations and companies. You create things at first, whereas other companies just go through the path of the many other companies. On the other hand, you create some product, and then you start its development. It is very difficult, it takes a lot of time, but this uniqueness must be saved, it must be developed even further and I am sure that it will bring success eventually. I really like that the help which is organized by the Kyrgyzfriends for other guesthouses, is sensible. You see the changes that were made by Kyrgyzfriends. Starting from the monument, the road-signs, coffee-shop, remodeling the houses and supplying them with beds matrasses and clean white bedsheets.
I mean somewhere you guys even let the villagers to have an opportunity of earning money on their own. I remember that they were laughing so hard when I was talking about the bathrooms. Other than that, I think the funnies moments were on the road between the villages. What was so funny? That is a problem actually, you do remember something, but once somebody asks you to tell about it, suddenly you forget everything.
We were laughing on every single trip. Exactly, and what was so funny? Eliza, what was so funny? I think that the best moments from every trip were the touching ones. Like how we stopped for picnic and how we had pizza at the beach of the lake when we had to break our fasting for the Ramadan. Those moments seem to be very insufficient, yet they were so memorable. You guys should have told me, after dealing with tax inspectors I cannot remember a single joke.
If the mother of the Russian town is Moscoe, then who is the father? Leningrad? See, I told you, Saint-Petersburg. Can a gun, that is placed in the fridge be considered as a cold weapon? Of course no What is it then? Too cold Frozen? Frozen. Where did they leave the soil after digging up the metro? Oh, Kilimanjaro? I said Sparrow Hills. Just imagine moving the soil to Kilimanjaro? Oh yeah, on a ferry and with the help of the donkeys, horses. So, our interview has finished, as we promised previously, we are ready for new prizes. This time, our interview...er? It's okay It's okay You will definitely give it out, I know, it turns out this person does not know how to lie Mom did not raise me that way.
Dear friends, as we have promised that in every interview, we will hold a lottery. Can you tell us what are we having as our prizes this time? This time the prize will be a ticket to the awards ceremony of the best hoteliers, restaurateurs, managers and waiters on December 17th in Novotel. How many tickets have we decided on in the end? One? We are going to have two tickets with a +1 option. In other words, by winning this ticket, you will be able to bring one of your friends along with you. So, the conditions are simple, write down in the comments...
..what are we writing down in the comments? HoReCa Awards Ceremony is going to be very interesting. There will be a lot of great guests. It will be an even of the year. So, in the comments section below, write down “I want to visit HoReCa Awards”, do not forget about likes and shares, make sure you are subscribed. We will announce the results of the contest very soon.
2021-11-21 21:29
