More jobs in tourism sector

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

The Tourism Ministry has launched a national level program to train skilled persons to cater to the increasing demand in the tourist sector which has shown a remarkable progress after the eradication of terrorism in the country.

On a directive by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Ministry has made arrangements to introduce a national level program countrywide by providing training opportunities to a large number of youth who seek employment in the tourist sector, Tourism Minister Achala Jagoda told the Sunday Observer.

Under this national program, the Ministry has already launched training courses in Colombo and Ratnapura districts. A series of long- term and short-term programs will be conducted by experts on key areas in the tourist sector.

To provide more training opportunities to the youth, the Government has also made arrangements to set up a Hotel School in each province. Plans have been drawn up to set up Hotel Schools in the Northern and the Eastern provinces including Jaffna, Batticaloa and Vavuniya districts to overcome the unemployment problem of youth who had to face severe hardships due to terrorism, he said.

The Minister said the Government aims at generating more employment opportunities in the tourist sector within the next few years. This would provide an opportunity for a large number of youth to gain employment in the tourism sector.

Minister Jagoda said the Tourism Ministry has formulated an action plan to increase the present tourist arrivals by five fold in 2016.