Namaste!
I’m Shriram Shinde, currently studying Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Resort Experience Management at Thompson Rivers University. This e-portfolio will provide information about my projects related to tourism policy and planning at TRU while showing a glimpse of my life, academics, and traveler type.
I’m currently residing in Kamloops, BC to study tourism at TRU but I was born and brought up in Pune, India where I spent the first 20 years of my life. Indians are well known for their hospitality as we firmly believe that guests are our god so this deep-rooted culture of hospitality really inspired me to pursue my career in the field of hospitality and tourism. After finishing high school I went to study Hotel Management at Pune University to learn how the hotel industry works. During my time at Pune University, I gained theoretical as well as practical knowledge of the hotel industry. During one of the semesters, I went for training at The Ritz-Carlton in the city of Bangalore, India where I worked in all major departments of the hotel such as front desk, housekeeping, culinary, food and beverage service, and finance. This 6-month full-time training helped me understand the core operations of the luxury 5-star hotel and gain practical knowledge while working there.
While I was studying Hotel Management the main focus of my studies was on hotel operations while slightly touching on the tourism industry. After exploring the hotel industry through my studies and training experience I wanted to look at the bigger picture, I wanted to understand how the tourism industry works and how tourism destinations are developed and managed so I chose to study Resort Experience Management at TRU which is more inclined towards tourism policy and planning, sustainability, etc.
Apart from tourism and hospitality I also love cooking and baking. It works as a stress buster for me and I have been doing it since I was in 6th grade. My mother played an important role in teaching me the basics of cooking as I loved helping her in the kitchen as a teenager and would always be excited to try new recipes. Later when I grew up I started exploring baking and realized I loved baking more than cooking.
My family is vegetarian so they refrained from eating baked items with egg in it so I started experimenting with new recipes without eggs and eventually, I stopped using any animal-derived products in my baking so that everyone can eat what I bake. I’m environmentally conscious and acknowledge the negative impact of animal agriculture on the environment so I chose to be on a plant-based diet and I ingrained that into my baking practices as well.
After I graduate from TRU I plan to work towards making the hospitality and tourism industry more sustainable by using the skills and knowledge I gained during my time at TRU. Be it a small or big organization, I hope to be involved in the strategic planning, development, and management of a tourism business.