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Avahan 2019

Avahan 2019

Avahan, the Annual International Conference on Hospitality and Tourism of Amrapali Insitute of Hotel Management, is one of the most awaited events among the Academicians, Researchers and Professionals of the Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Avahan 2019, with the theme “Preparing Education for the effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution on Hospitality and Tourism” was organized on 1st and 2nd February 2019. Read this story on Avahan 2019 from Dr. Savita Upreti.

What would be the future of Hospitality like? Can robots escort passengers from bell desk? Will the check in process be handled by them? Can Chatbot really support customer service? Will rooms be equipped with AR tools to give customers a real augmented experience of Hotels services? Maybe – it’s certainly worth exploring.  As travel technology becomes more intelligent, it creates more avenues of personalization that can occur and be offered. We have witnessed technology moving through the desktop age and into mobile, many systems existed are now in disparate silos.

Amrapali Institute of Hotel Management has always emphasized its role in shaping future hospitality professionals by being the test-beds for innovation and educating for future. The focus has been to deliver future generations with the right set of skills and knowledge in this lust for empowering students with futuristic education the 6th International Conference AVAHAN was organised on 1st and 2nd of February to explore how Hospitality education would be affected by the fourth industrial revolution and how the delivery of education will be transformed.

Worldwide the fourth industrial revolution is developing environment in which disruptive technologies and trends such as the ‘Internet of Things’, robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence are changing the way we live and work. This arrival of Fourth distinct revolution with an unprecedented velocity, scope and its impact came as a mention furthering discussion in the 6th International Conference on ‘Preparing Education for the effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution on Hospitality and Tourism’.

The International Conference was inaugurated by the distinguished personality; the Vice Chancellor of Kumaun University Prof. D K Nauriyal who was the Chief Guest of the event. He initiated the event along with the dignitaries with the traditional Lamp Lightning ceremony to take the blessings of the divine Saraswati, the bestower of knowledge and wisdom. The Chief Guest was welcomed and felicitated by the Chairman of AGI Shri. C.L. Dhingra. In his inaugural speech Prof. Nauriyal advised that the changing time is bringing a fusion of technologies that is heralding a transformation in the entire systems and require a constant attention and adoption of new technologies and practices in HOSPITALITY work unit and mannerism too. He further added that the revolution 4.0 is bringing immense transformations in the hospitality sector that is demand based and is demanding technologically sound hoteliers. He further added that such Conferences are a welcome as they provide insight to such technology and skill enhancement techniques through viable exchanges.

The Guest of Honor of the event was Prof Azilah Kasim of Utara University, Malaysia. She shared her views regarding the influence of technology in the Hospitality Sector and the immense opportunity of Digital Literacy and Robotics use in the hospitality sector in the near future. Another eminent academician from HNB Garwal, Prof. SK Gupta was also the Guest of Honor and during his opening speech he put forth his views regarding the scope of jobs, their rise and the facility offered in hospitality sector. He also focused upon various customer friendly apps which are helping guest and curtailing the language barrier.

Besides this, an abound essence in the inaugural session of conference came with the presence of the former General Manager of Hotel Ashoka, New Delhi Prof. Sudha Chandra, Prof RC Pandey, the former Principal of GIHM, Dehradun, Prof. Vinay Rana, Dean of  IMS Unison University, Dehradun, Dr Neeraj Agarwal, of UIHTM, Panjab University Chandigarh, Dr Jatashankar Tiwari , Director In-charge of Department of Hotel Management & Tourism, Uttarakhand Open University, Dr. Ramjit from Central University of Kashmir. During the inaugural session 6th edition of peer reviewed Hospitality Journal “Avahan” with wealth of research and innovative ideas was unraveled.

During the Inaugural session of the conference Prof D K Nauriyal conferred away Academic Research Excellence Award – AREA 2019 to various eminent educationist and experts from Industry for their dedicated efforts in their field of contribution. The felicitation of dignitaries was done by Mr. Narendra Dhingra Secretary AGI, Dr. Sanjay Dhingra CEO, AGI and Senior leaders.

The Organizing Secretary of AVAHAN 2019, Prof. Prashant Sharma, talked about the objectives of international conference and laid stress on the effects of 4th Industrial Revolution on the Hospitality Sector and its allied services and the way to become integrated to educational activities for the benefit of the students. He highlighted the topics of discussion of Avahan, the upcoming technological advancements in the hospitality sector, effect of the revolution 4.0 on the human resources sector, various hotel groups and their booking system, language differences, Online travel agencies and their contribution to Hospitality Sector.

The world renowned literates set discussion of the participation of women in hospitality sector, the understanding of Hotel Community towards the impact of changing environment, policy related to environment development, case study of Varanasi with respect to guest satisfaction, effect of AIR Bnb on hospitality sector, Tourist satisfaction study at Awadh Region were some of the various research topics discussed during the conference with paper presentation by Ms. Jasline Chatwal, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Mr Ashish Tamta, Dr. Ramjeet, Mrs. Tripti Singh Negi, Ms. Sridevi Nayar, Mr. Jose Antony, Mr. Sujoy Vikram Singh, Dr. Vandana Goel, Dr. Jatashankar Tiwari, Ms. Sherry Abraham, Mr. Sachin Dhaundiyal and Mr. Amit Kala. The Panel discussion ensued with the presence of Prof. Sudha Chandra, Prof. Nimit Chaudhary Head Department of Tourism & Hospitality Jamia Millia Islamiya University ,Prof. Pranshu Chomplay Head Dept. of Hotel Management, Amity University, Dr. Neeraj Agarwal, Dr. Ramjeet, Chef Tanuj Nayar, Executive Chef Jaypee Hotels, Chef Rahul Wali and the moderator of the panel discussion Prof. S K Singh, Director AIHM, Haldwani. The main elements of discussion here were the role of women in the hospitality sector, the impact of skill in the sector and its enhancement, the importance of research in hospitality education, the importance of a change in curriculum with changing technology, development of human resource with the changes in technology, the importance of educational institutes in enhancing the skills of students through technology and impetus of technological advancement in domestic market. The learned scholars present during the panel discussion stressed on the need to understand the developmental changes occurring in the industry and job opportunities. They suggested that the students should be more aware of the changes in the hospitality facilities provided by the government and utilize them to the fullest for engaging themselves as well as involving many others in the work.

The two days long conference was gifted with additional inclusion of workshops by Industry professionals on Food and Beverage as Triyanch, The Science behind home drink and syrup with experts Mr. Prashant Ruwalia of Monin and Mr. Manish Sati from the bartending Academy of India and was attended by voluminous  students as fans to the marvels  and blends of drinks. The culinary workshop on Art of Plating and International Cuisine was held under the auspices of the experts Chef Tanuj Nayyar and Chef Mr. Rahul Wali who taught the preparation of Awadhi and Kashmiri cuisines to the students along with Dam Murg, Kashmiri Phirni, Dam Alu Kashmiri and Awadhi Biryani. During the workshop the chefs also skilled the participants with uniqueness of Art of Plating.

During the valedictory function the conference coordinator Mr. Mahendra Negi provided the delegates with the insight of 2 days conference and urged the researcher for their support in near future too. The Director of the Institute Prof. (Dr.) S K Singh extended his thanks and gratitude to the Dignitaries, Experts, Participants, Management and organizers of the event along with the faculty and other staff members and praised their efforts for coming forth to organize such learning events. He requested the students who have shown immense interest in the event to strengthen the desire to learn from such events and be active participants in it. Special thanks was extended to Aahar Ways the collaborating media partner for all the activities that reveals its Social Interest in promoting ways to advance the knowledge and skills of the students who are the future of the country. It served its social responsibility to uplift the event.

Thus the sixth consecutive event ‘Avahan’ has set the stage for many more educative events in the future.

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