Discussion Club
To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of the invitation.
I had been invited to part in the Discussion Club ”International Economist” which is organized by the World Economy and International Business staff of the Finance and Credit Faculty in the Institute of Economy and Finance at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn. That’s five levels of hierarchy … enough for anyone to get lost in.
They wanted me to address the following two questions:
- Problems and Perspectives of the development of International Tourism in Kyrgyzstan, and
- The current state of International Tourism.
Now, both of those struck me as fairly major themes, but I was told I would be one of two guests and that we would have something like half an hour – it wasn’t clear if that was half an hour each or between us.
The format also worried me … “Discussion Club” … which suggested that it wasn’t really a “talk” but was meant to be a stimulus to create discussion between the members. The use of the word “club” also implied a more informal format.
I was presumably being invited as someone involved in Tourism, which was apparently the chosen theme and as a foreigner, after all there was an emphasis throughout on International and I seemed to “fit the bill” in both resopects … but I was concerned that I am not – by any stretch of the imagination – an Economist or specialist in Credit and Finance.
So … as I sat and pondered the invitation and what I was going to say I considered a number of possibilities …
As usual, I felt it would be important to spend one or two minutes establishing who I was – to put my comments into context:
- British – not local
-
- a teacher
-
- of mathematics, statistics and Comuting and Information Technology
- … with a degree in Theology and Psychology, and
- a former trade union representative
- so … not
-
- an economist, nor
- a typical businessman, nor
- an expert in tourism … (although a practitioner if not a qualified academic)
- having been in Kyrgyzstan since 1995,
-
- although I came originally for just one year and
- working in tourism since 1997,
- operating a tour company and running two hotels,
- serving five terms as President of KATO, (the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators), and
- eleven years as a member of the Management board of IBC, (the International Business Council)
OK … and to follow?
I decided that there were several possibilities … most of which I have, more or less, “off pat” because they are fairly common themes. A bit like Jim Hacker, (the Minister for Administrative Affairs in the redoubtable “Yes, Minister!” series), the “top and tail” top a presentation tends to change to meet a specific situation and audience, but the main part follows a regular pattern. It seemed to me that there were several options, with inevitable overlap between them, such as:
Problems over attracting investment: first of all “attracting” potential investors to consider Kyrgyzstan given our distance form potential markets, the problems with infrastructure and transport; the possibility of incentives for investors; the need for stability – economic, political and social; the availability and cost of finance; the availability of raw material and an educated and willing workforce; the formalities of doing business – inspections and corruption; the enforceability of contracts and the rule of law … and so on …
The place of Kyrgyzstan in the wider market place – the need for Marketing. This requires that Kyrgystan must define what it wants and what it stands for: Recreational Tourism (Beach tourism – Sun, sand and sea … well, Lake); Active adventure tourism; Cultural, Silk Road Tourism … Nomadic tourism and so on); Business Tourism … Ecotourism, Hunting, Winter Sports, Trophy Tourism … and the like.
The role of the state and the private sector. In particular the differences between monitoring, supervision, regulation, management and control … although this also depends on 0ne’s ideas about the nature and legitimate role of government.
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics. One of my favourite topics … but, hey, they are involved in Economics, Finance and Credit … they live by the numbers … so a few stories about the shortcomings of doing so should be in order … how data is gathered, by whom, analysed, presented and employed; statistics about the global tendency of developments in Tourism … and here in Kyrgyzstan; definition of terms;
Striking a balance - between such things as quality of service, (… “the customer is always right ” …), level of infrastructure, Pricing, the training of personnel.
… and that’s just for starters …
In the end I decided on Statistics … one of the other speakers was standing at a lectern, (… not necessarily a good sign …), going through a presentation on the screen when I arrived about the history and trends in International Tourism … and it turned out that another presentation was to be about Tourism in Turkey.
The room was like a large committee room with a round table seating about 25 people … and there were seats around the sides of the room for another 25 or so. I had a seat assigned to me at the top of the table (… not necessarily a good sign).
I went through my brief outline … trying to mix humour with content … then it was time for questions which came thick and fast … and took some time which, in turn, meant that the other two presentations had to be somewhat rushed … which was a pity because there were some interesting points in both.
I think they may need to look once more at the format … Discussion … Club …
Bishkek