High demand for Sri Lankan skills in UAE hospitality trade

Rasika SOMARATHNA

KANDY: Sri Lanka is ready to accept the challenge of being the largest skilled manpower supplier for the hospitality industry in the Middle East where there is around 75000 vacancies in the UAE alone with a high demand for Sri Lankan skills, Tourism Deputy Minister Faizer Musthapha said addressing Senior Public Servants in Kandy.

Referring to his highly successful tour in the UAE, the Deputy Minister said he had decided to grab the opportunity with some other Asian countries too competing for lucrative jobs in the same field.

The reputation of Sri Lanka having highly skilled and disciplined manpower tilted the balance, Musthapha said, emphasising the need to produce quality workers with all the necessary skills to sustain the momentum.

The Minister said that while taking 200 qualified students to fill the existing vacancies another batch of 500 students from the Kandy District would be absorbed for a two month course at the Hotel School where the successful students would be given viable opportunities in the UAE.

The course is to be offered at a concessionary rate and the students are to be chosen from underpriveledged families with bank loans provided to meet expenses, the Deputy Minister revealed.

The Deputy Minister also pointed out that the hospitality and tourism industries are one of the fastest growing industries in the world with 255 million employed in the industry and consisting of 11.3% of worlds consumption and 10.7 of worlds GDP with a 4.3% growth annually.

The programme is to be continued throughout the country with the assistance of the Foreign Employment Bureau.