Siberian hospitality

Hospitality - it's not just generosity, but the level of culture of human, of population as a whole. And here for the inhabitants of the Baikal region there are a lot of problems, including psychological nature. No matter how offensive to admit, but quite a lot of reasons for refusal to travel to our region and discontent with visits to Lake Baikal sites are linked with our level of culture, manifested primarily as a tourist service. In the foreign literature is the concept of "culture shock", whose essence lies in the fact that the attributes and values of another culture, the nature of the relationship to the environment, manners and service are for a person unpleasant and annoying due to their incompatibility with the habitual way of life and life with significant differences in the estimates of their significance. Man in that case has to get over the "different culture" or come to a negative evaluation of one's own culture.

If you take the symptoms of culture shock with regard to tourist travel abroad (and other) citizens, then they will naturally arise about:

• negligent, indifferent, and often disregard for local residents to the environment;

• stubborn in being "Baikal man" habits of behavior at home, in public places, transport, etc., which in other countries are perceived almost a manifestation of atavism;

• the opportunity to become the object of criminal conduct by criminal elements;

•“the quality” of customer service in different areas of tourism, which is actually below the normal standards of service quality.

These and other "stimulants" culture shock has many details and nuances that are beginning to emerge from the early hours of travel to Russia and, cumulatively, lead to dissatisfaction and even a psychotic episode. In this growing snowball negative impressions are not only the domain of tourists, but also through the exchange of views through the media penetrate the minds of potential travelers, as a barrier to their desire to visit Baikal.

It is Possible as a theoretical argument to bring the mechanism of "culture shock" for tourists.

1. Availability expectations for:

a. with the traditions of service, rules of consumer and business behavior in the home country;

b. with the requirements of international instruments (the "Code tourist", "Charter for the tourist") prescribing standards of service users and visitors in different countries;

c. with the experience of stay (if he was) in tourist visits to other countries and respecting their culture of service.

The absence of some important differences, discrepancies between these expectations of the reasons for the emergence of c / s does not arise. Ceteris paribus c / s can be expressed as:

• stronger if the actual practice of care is different in a negative direction from all the above expectations;

• weaker than if: 1) the practice of service in the host country of poor quality, but not much different than at home in the tourist; I) if the experience of service in other countries visited was the same low level.

2. Committing serious contradictions between the expectations (as it should be) and the actual standards of care and behavior of citizens in the host country, there is an understanding that neither the tourist nor the organizers of the tour with these differences cannot and / or do not want to fight: they are familiar and “worldly "things.

3. The situation causes the emotional state of anxiety, depression and even hostility, varying from mild anxiety to disgust and outrage against the cultural differences of what used to a person, and of what he had to face.

4. Negative emotions intensified by the fact that the person understands that in the near future (not to interrupt the anticipated joys and excitement of meeting with the nature of Lake Baikal), he will be forced to adapt to the established "unrest" and follow the rules imposed for all their denial.

5. Man uses, established in his life, ways to restore their mental health and emotional balance, but they do not work sufficiently, and, conversely, sometimes causing even more alarming.

6. There is anger and resentment in relation not only to the organizers, but in general to the host country, its primitive and inferior to traditions, values and foundations. And hence - a negative opinion of citizens of this country. And the validity of bias cannot cause doubts.

Anyone who ever had to work, or long enough to interact with foreign tourists, knows that the presented mechanism of "culture shock" and bias - this is a very common phenomenon faced by many people who are on "both sides" of barricades.

The question of cultural shock again and again leads us to the problem of preparedness of local residents and organizations to quality care of domestic tourists, and especially overseas. The approaching opening of SEZ of tourist-recreational type exacerbates this problem for at least two points. On the one hand, at the places, quite frankly, cannot find the necessary number of specialists in service, medical support, maintenance of buildings and structures. They probably have to involve "shifts" at 3-4 month season. And a decent quality of work and service of these attracted is very doubtful. On the other hand, the maintenance problem for many Russian people and nations involves a change of mentality, the Hero of the famous play, once said: "To serve would be glad, smarm sickening," and this phrase reflects the views of many people in the region (not only) about other services, as something degrading, making it a kind of a lackey, servant, slave. And one won’t become specialist of the "thin" service with such a psychology.

There are other equally complex issues. In the blood of Russian people there is a low level of everyday culture, combined with the same impractical. 20 years ago, a writer, with a soul cares for the Baikal and Baikal men, V. Zhemchuzhnikov wrote about the urgent need to build in Listvyanka (assuming, of course, not only to it) institutions of "not to heal people's path": "Or there is something significant about part of improvement: on a busy patch, where visitors flock from all over and the most distant shores, to this day (year 1987-nd) is not built, sorry for the mode of life, civilized (warm!) public toilet. Perhaps someone carelessly treat: this is not an object of primary importance. And for me, so it is with him, they should start construction of the magnificent national park on Lake Baikal. And this institution - by the way, also an indication of the general culture - must necessarily be at the level of world standards. No kidding. "

Years passed, but on this issue is still carelessly (rather, "gryaznoplyuyski) dismiss the local government and even business people. I remember half-jokingly Russian film in which an unsuccessful businessman (actor Mikhail Evdokimov) built in his village "chic" for those places a charge toilet. Villagers flocked to him to at least once to join the comfort and everyday "service". But, unfortunately (also without any jokes), this example a little bit encourages Baikal natives; although, no doubt, in the present circumstances the facility would be paid off very soon. And the lack of culture is thriving. What about the fact: on the road from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude, magnificent in its species, on which often aliens are carried, over 457 km there is no civilized toilet, not to mention of the condition of the road. (Incidentally, the question of the existence of civilized places "where you do not heal people's path" between Chita and Ulan-Ude, I asked at the scientific conference in Chita. And the representatives of the Siberian city "modestly" kept silent). But you can find a fairly simple solution: the construction of well-appointed bathrooms at gas stations by receiving huge profits from oil refining companies.

It is worth of special mentioning another of the barriers associated with the Russian reality. For tourists wishing to spend their leisure time in cities and towns of the Baikal region, there is a question of basic security: In many areas there is a high crime and very poorly run police stations. Meanwhile, even a single case of attacks on foreign nationals, covered by mass media, and (or) reported by injured tourists to their friends, usually leads to the fact of declining the number of people who want to visit our region.

One of the most pressing psychological problems of forming and taking into account people's attitudes towards specific objects of nature that influence is the "human factor" in their perception and understanding. The question deals with two aspects: on the one hand, who presents information about the object (its features, performance, quality), on the other hand - who is being touted as "the subject of perception" reacts to "narrator". The examples are not far to seek, it is enough to remember how dull and boring and colorless description of the tours, even the original phenomenon repeatedly reduces interest in him. And vice versa: a vivid, emotional, imaginative story about the seemingly unremarkable subject surrounding forces to draw attention to its originality and uniqueness. Similarly, the problem concerns by whom and how we are served, what impressions are about the people involved in tourist services.

It must be admitted that in the national psychology these issues are rarely and a little bit affected. Not by chance the Russian “service” of foreign tourists has been criticized “at every corner” and it is believed that the service quality of domestic travel agencies is “intimidating factor” for many, many people from abroad.

Clearly aware of the difficulty of the questions raised, let’s dwell only on one small aspect of it - especially the perception of visiting the characteristics and qualities of local residents.

In psychology, there is an interesting concept of "halo effect" that reflects, in particular, the impact of a significant object in the perception of other, interrelated with objects, events, people. Positive (and, possibly, negative) "paint" a meaningful entity "halo" effect that somehow relates to him. In our case, we can assume that positive feelings to the Baikal will be reflected in a certain way on an assessment of individuals living on its shores. Consider the example of the effect estimates by the Japanese as a citizen of Russia (Russians) and Baikal resident (“Baikal man”). For comparison, the method of semantic differential was presented by15 pairs of characteristics that need to be assessed on a scale from +3 (bright intensity) to - 3 (opposite state). Along with "Baikal man" and "Russian citizen" each respondent assessed the presence of the respective qualities of "ideally" in him. Some survey results are shown in table 6 (it shows only "positive side "of differentiable qualities).

Table 6

Evaluation of the Japanese people by the qualities of semantic differential

Features me myself Russian Baikal man

Score Rank Score Rank Score Rank

Hospitable 1.00 7-8 1.60 3 1.83 4

Good 2.00 1 1.53 5 1.92 2

Strong 1.27 5 2.00 1 2.18 1

Hardworking 1.46 4 0.14 14 1.36 10

Candid 1.50 3 0.53 12 1.60 7

Tactful 1.75 2 0.64 11 1.55 9

Aggressive -0.87 15 0.56 13 -0.57 15

Brave 1.00 7-8 1.64 2 1.89 3

Trusting 1.09 6 0.13 15 0.67 14

Quiet 0.58 9 1.50 6 1.57 8

Sociable 0.54 10 1.31 7 1.70 5

Interesting 0.50 11-12 1.14 9 0.90 13

Original 0.30 13 1.56 4 1.33 11

Reckless -0.43 14 1.00 10 1.67 6

Cheerful 0.50 11-12 1.20 8 0.92 12

Let’s briefly comment on the table, adding a verbal commentary salient (as most and least expressed) assessment of an "ideal". "The rank" as applied to the objects of evaluation as follows:

Ideal: the good, original, strong, considerate, brave, industrious, frank. Not as desirable as "ideal": recklessness, credulity.

Me myself: kind, considerate, sincere, hardworking, strong and confident. Poorly expressed are: recklessness, originality.

Russian: strong, brave, friendly, original, kind, calm, but is not: a hard-working and confident.

Baikal man: strong, kind, brave, friendly, outgoing, reckless, candid: but is not: an interesting and confident.

By itself, the hierarchy of quality is of some interest. But the most important was the fact that the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (Rs) between the characteristics of "myself" and "Russian" was close to zero, i.e. any significant relationship between the quality is missing. At the same time, the Rs between the quality of "myself" and "Baikal man” (significance level 0.05) was statistically significant and amounted to 0.445, and the Rs between the qualities of" Russians "and "Baikal man” was also significant - 0,70 (at significance level 0.01). Thus, "Baikal man”, although is fully comparable to the "Russian citizen "in its quality characteristics, but it simultaneously on a number of parameters close to their self-assessments of those in the Land of the Rising Sun."

We can say that the Japanese, for whatever reason, a certain way idealized image of “Baikal man”. Perhaps because he, like the locals, is more “Asian” or Japanese when faced with negative aspects of "Baikal man" cannot tolerate them in person.

The presence of "halo" dialectical assumes the appearance of "antihalo" - a phenomenon when are sharpened opposite characteristics of people due to negligence, carelessness and lack of culture of local residents. And again this is a real fact. Our graduate Vasil'eva conducted a survey on the above semantic differential the Germans, who had been on trips to the lake, and the Germans, who were not in these parts (the last survey was carried out while training in Germany). The Germans, who did not visit Lake Baikal, in the first place among the alleged characteristics of "Baikal man" put "friendly", while those who traveled, this quality was at the last, fifteenth place. Such "antihalo" can be explained very simply: for the Germans hospitality is first and foremost an excellent service, providing care at home and at level crossings, punctuality and correctness of service, which Baikal man clearly lacks. However, the Germans, who were on the lake, appreciate the qualities of local residents as "interesting", "original", "frank", "calm".

The practical significance of the matter is, apparently, in the fact that local residents, especially involved in the care of guests, must make maximum use of "positive halo effect" to contribute fully to the development of existing and desired authority and the image of the owner of "Lake Baikal": the generous, sociable and hospitable.

See also

• The Many Faces of Multilingual and Mysterious Baikal. A.D.Karnyshev

Literature

1. A.D. Karnyshev "The Many Faces of Multilingual and Mysterious Baikal"© BSU Publishing House, 2011