Tourism Product Development Specialist -Ganja
The Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB) promotes tourism in Azerbaijan across various fields including hospitality, tourism agencies, exhibitions, events, tourism products, regional destination development and guide associations. Our aim is to create a sustainable industry by constantly enhancing Azerbaijan’s tourism products. To achieve this, we need a strong team of people who share our values and want to make our country a spirited tourism destination in international tourism market.
Job Description:
The Tourism Product Development Specialist works in the Ganja DMO (Tourism Information Center / Destination Management Organization) office with the overall objective of developing the tourism products in West region (including cities of Ganja, Naftalan, Mingechevir and districts Goygol, Shamkir, Dashkasan, Gadabay and Tovuz) as an attractive and competitive tourism destination.
He / she is the key personnel responsible for handling all tourism product initiatives and development activities in Ganja DMO.
He / she will be required to support tourism product and business development in local and regional level in west region under new and pre-defined themes and routes nationwide. The Specialist shall create, develop, and manage tourism resource database (both tangible and intangible), support in developing partnerships with regional tourism industry, and conduct periodic research and assessments of tourism resources and their potential. As assigned by Ganja DMO, he/she will also be responsible to further local and national level relationships and activities with key tourism partners in the government, private sector and civil society.
As the DMO consists of a small, dedicated team, all staff are expected to be multi-functional. As such, the Tourism Product Development Specialist will also be expected from time-to-time to provide support across other activity areas (e.g. industry development and networking, marketing and communications including social media marketing, organization and management of MICE, etc.).
The Tourism Product Development Specialist is resourceful, organized, has excellent communication skills and good understanding of project management, possesses a professional approach when developing concepts and quick-win projects.
He / she works on a regular work-week from Mondays to Fridays, but occasionally has to work over evenings, weekends and/or public holidays, mostly resides in Ganja city but may often travel within DMO districts.
Main responsibilities:
- Identify, conceptualize and develop new tourism products in target districts and destinations. Upgrade current products, provide consultation and support to tourism businesses and tourism start-ups in the region;
- Collaborate with tour operators and other tourism stakeholders and provide inputs on potential tourism products as well as build relationships with these businesses to facilitate sales of west region tourism products;
- Oversee business planning, management, operations training and guide training for tourism products (specific trainings conducted by other parties);
- Keep the internal tourism resource database (both tangible and intangible) up-to-date, making constant additions/updates;
- Conduct site visits to tourism resources, POIs (point of interests), analyze and provide potential development plans/concepts for each resource to make them attractive;
- Identify niche concepts/themes for each district/village based on its historical, cultural, natural and other potential to develop relevant tourism products and experiences (such as wine tourism, fishing concept, silk road etc.);
- Develop and organize local festivals and events to make the destination more attractive including the sourcing of partners and sponsors;
- Initiate and/or support the development of local thematic trails. Attract different stakeholders to support manage and promote the trails;
- Support with the elaboration of relevant tourism strategies and plans in the Ganja DMO area;
- Elaborate concepts documents/development plans for rural areas with tourism potential and support their successful implementation;
- Assist Ganja DMO team test and refine tourism products when they are ready for visitors;
Other responsibilities:
- Assist develop marketing and promotional activities;
- Assist build and strengthen DMO’s partnership and cooperation opportunities;
Qualifications:
- Higher education (preferably in Tourism, Business or Economics)
- Certification and training in a related field is desirable;
- 2 +years’ experience in tourism industry (e.g. hospitality, tourism organization, tourism NGO, travel agency, hotel & tourism sector) or a public position related to tourism or business
- Proficient with MS Office
- Excellent writing, communication (AZE, ENG), time management and organizational skills.
- Attention to detail is a must
- Strong business acumen with analytical skills and problem-solving thinking
- Proficient project management skills
- Strong desire and curiosity to learn, continuously improve and expand skills
- Self-starter with ability to solve problems creatively, manage multiple projects simultaneously and work with internal and external stakeholders.
Candidates are requested to send their CVs to ganja@tourism.gov.az until 12.11.2021. Please indicate the name of the position (Tourism Product Development Specialist) you are applying for in the subject line of the email. Please be advised that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the further stages of the recruitment process.