The policy-making council meeting for the third “National Tourism Excellence Award” was held today at The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park, focusing on redesigning the evaluation model and explaining the role of tourism as an economic driver. This event can help create momentum, improve service quality, and activate the economic engine of the country’s tourism industry.
According to the public relations report of The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park, at the beginning of this meeting, Dr. Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo, head of The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park, emphasized the importance of holding the National Tourism Excellence Award and said: Despite all the ups and downs that the tourism sector has faced in recent years, The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park intends to create a new momentum in the country’s tourism industry this year by holding the third National Excellence Award. We hope that by utilizing the experiences of the previous two award cycles and other national awards, we can play an effective role in the country by holding this event.
The President of the University of Science and Culture further added: Studies have shown that most tourism excellence awards have been organized by the non-governmental sector. The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park, as an institution under the umbrella of Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), was responsible for organizing this award for two years, but the outbreak of Corona caused a hiatus in the process of holding its third cycle. This year, the third cycle of this award will be held at the request of various tourism sectors, with more experience compared to previous cycles and with broader participation from tourism activists.
The Effectiveness of Tourism in Economic Prosperity
The advisor to the head of The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park also stated at this meeting, referring to the economic importance of tourism: In economics, terms such as driving sectors are used. From the perspective of positive economics, tourism acts as a more powerful driver than any other sector, even the service sector. Based on input-output tables, if one Rial is injected into tourism, its effect on other sectors will be greater than in any other economic area.
Dr. Ali Hassani added: From the beginning of the National Tourism Excellence Award, our view was that the country’s economy desperately needs to activate such a huge sector; a sector that can be the driving force for other areas.
He stated: Education has always accompanied tourism. We established the first faculty of tourism at the University of Science and Culture and attracted the first master’s and doctoral students in this field. Today, this faculty operates alongside major public universities and considers itself obliged to be effective in the field of tourism.
Tourism; The Driving Force of the Economy
Continuing the meeting, the Deputy for Coordination and Development of The Soft Technology and Cultural Industries Park, referring to the experience of ministerial cooperation in the field of tourism, said: In 2019, when I was at the Ministry of Tourism, a project was defined regarding the employment capacity of the tourism industry. In this joint project between the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Tourism, it was found that many officials are not aware of the employment capacity of this industry. While in many countries, tourism is recognized as the engine of economic movement.
Dr. Azizollah Jaafari noted: A series of studies have also been conducted following this event. The tourism festival, which is held alongside this event, can also pave the way for the momentum of this event for future years. Although the number of participants may be small, it can produce valuable specialized content. Also, the media attachment of this event is essential, and news agencies, including Sinapress, one of the news agencies affiliated with ACECR, can play an important role in informing.
Addressing Shortcomings with the Help of the Tourism Excellence Award
The head of the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Science and Culture also emphasized the importance of independent awards in the field of tourism at this meeting and said: The country desperately needs such awards; especially awards that do not have government affiliation. Of course, this is a difficult task.
Dr. Saeed Hashemi stated: In the first cycles, many criticisms were leveled against the evaluation system because evaluation is defined alongside quality and standards, but unfortunately, people have become accustomed to low quality. Surveys by specialized groups have shown that 70% of the audience do not care about quality at all.
He continued: Currently, one of the problems is related to the weakness of our tourism literacy. Tourists must have a correct understanding of services to be able to provide accurate evaluation and criticism.If this awareness is enhanced, the quality of services will also increase. I hope the Excellence Award can compensate for some of this deficiency.
Hashemi reminded: To advance this path, the cooperation of the university, the science and technology park, and tourism activists is essential. Also, to develop this award and increase its effectiveness, we need to expand the participation of other sectors, the support of national media, and long-term planning so that the Tourism Excellence Award can play a more serious role in improving the quality of this industry.
The main goal of the award; innovation and improvement of management quality
The executive secretary of the third National Tourism Excellence Award also said in this meeting: The National Tourism Industry Excellence Award is the first specialized award in the country in the field of organizational excellence management with a focus on tourism. This award is designed inspired by international models, especially (EFQM), and localized to suit Iran’s conditions.
Dr. Babak Yavari Far stated that the main goal of this award is to improve management quality, innovation, and competitiveness of tourism organizations and said: This year, this award will be held considering 6 main criteria including leadership and management, social responsibility, human capital, capabilities, customers (tourists), and operations at three levels: commitment to excellence certificate (especially for newcomers), commendation for excellence in tourism, and national tourism excellence trophy (at three levels: bronze, silver, and gold).
He noted: The scoring threshold for these three levels is from zero to one thousand points. Final registration continues until December 6th. Finally, with the evaluations and final reviews of the jury committee and the determination of award levels, this national conference will be held in March of this year.
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