On 1 October, 2012, a new SWISSAM business school in the hospitality industry officially opened its doors to students. Students of all programs (Hospitality Management – undergraduate/postgraduate and Culinary Arts & Management) took part in the official assembly, had a look at the classrooms and listened to an introductory lecture about their future profession. To celebrate the start of the first academic year, TOHOLOGY prepared a special report so that everyone would, at least for a moment, be able to imagine themselves as a student of the industry one faces daily while visiting restaurants or staying in hotels.
The Rector of the school, Walter Spaltenstein, delivered the opening speech before the new school year. As it was the second time he had opened this kind of school, the launch of this project was a particularly important event for Mr. Spaltenstein. For 20 years, Walter Spaltenstein was President of a business school in Lucerne (Switzerland). Now the time had come to share his knowledge with students in St. Petersburg.
Next spoke the Academic Dean Roger-Peter Weizenegger. Mr. Weizenegger started his speech with his memory of standing at the entrance to a hotel school in Switzerland many years ago, with knowledge awaiting him just as it awaits today's students...
Prior to the red tape cutting ceremony, the floor was given to Dmitry Shubin, General Manager of Sokos Hotel Olympia Garden. Sokos Hotels in St. Petersburg are among the employing partners of SWISSAM business school.
Walter Spaltenstein gives Yana Tsyplakova the first student card:
The school is open!
80 students began their studies.
The Rector and staff of the business school gave a tour of the classrooms.
The party continued in one of the culinary studios.
There were welcome words from industry experts:
And a few more pictures from that day:
As part of the cultural program of the St. Petersburg Open 2012 tournament, Corinthia Hotel St. Petersburg hosted a culinary competition with the participation of current doubles champions Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins.
17th ExpoHoReCa was held in Saint Petersburg at the end of February. It was the first time the hospitality event has taken place at a new location – ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. TOHOLOGY visited the exhibition and prepared a photo coverage of the event.
Professional event in the Russian and the CIS hospitality industry PIR Expo took place on 24-27 September at the Crocus Expo International Exhibition Centre in Moscow. The moto of the PIR Expo 2018 exhibition was “Raise your level at the game”: HoReCa specialists were offered to prepare for their daily game and get competitive advantages and new clients.
Organized by UNWTO with the support of Google during the ITB Berlin travel trade fair, a High-Level Dialogue underscored that digital skills development remain a major priority for destinations around Europe.