Jobs in the tourism sector:

Training programs need certification - report

The tourism industry will need about 130,000 newly trained personnel by 2020 based on the four million tourist arrivals target, according to a study conducted by the National Human Resources Development Council (NHRDC) of Sri Lanka, with experts in the industry and HR specialists.

The tourism industry overall based on arrival forecasts will add around 350,000 direct and indirect new jobs by 2020 according to the report.

Of the 141 training programs offered around Sri Lanka, 98 are registered, and of this only 23 are certified.

Many hotel groups conduct in-house training using internally developed programs, many of which are of high quality.

The Report says the industry will be better served if these courses are also registered and certified to enable accreditation.

According to Chairman, NHRDC, Dinesh Weerakkody, around 197 new hotels with about 11,700 rooms catering to all levels started operations in 2015 and will continue till 2018 which will need newly trained personnel putting enormous pressure on the TVET sector.

The need for trained employees in the new hotels should be met by the the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) by launching improved curriculum and training programs and increasing the intake in consultation with the TVET sector.

The SLITHM curriculum should be offered through other institutions and the government should strengthen the SLITHM. The large hotel groups would, however, manage their manpower needs through internally generated training programs.

The industry, according to the report, needs to create a new employment value proposition to attract talented young people to the industry and conduct the training and certification programs where there is a higher concentration of hotels without centering all their efforts in the Western Province.

The report says the proposed education voucher system will also help the industry to attract new talent.

According to Weerakkody, the current capacity or intake into our training and learning centres is only 8,600 which should be increased significantly.

Quality and delivery also needs to improve. According to the report there are several universities producing hospitality, tourism and events management graduates, but most of these programs are not current. The UGC should, therefore, consult the industry to determine its value to the industry and redo the programs. The report also says depending on the type of tourists Sri Lanka hopes to attract in the future, the current skill levels will have to move up to mirror the new customer value proposition.