‘Hotel sector needs more workers’

Indunil Hewage

Sri Lanka hotel sector needs at least 62,000 workers to cater to the expected 2.5 million tourists to Sri Lanka by 2016.

The Government is planning to attract 2.5 million tourists and nearly 600,000 persons will have to be employed in the tourism industry representing different fields to meet this target.

Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) Director General, CEO Dr. Suranga Silva said annually 6,000 Sri Lankan students are being provided training on cookery, food and beverages, front office services and other services by all hotel schools in the country and this number should be increased up to at least 10,000 students per year to facilitate the targeted 2.5 million tourists by 2016.

Currently, SLITHM is engaged in providing training for the people in the East in the field of food and beverages and house keeping and front office services and it hopes to give training for the students in the North by setting up an institute there shortly.

He said that the institute is planning to introduce tour guiding and eco-tourism projects shortly. Apart from that, measures will be taken to introduce novel first aid and health care programs for medical practitioners in the country to assist foreign tourists coming to the country.

SLITHM is planning to recruit more people into hotel industry by adding more programs while providing guidance to the other private hotel schools in the country.

“Human involvement in the tourism industry is compulsory as the industry can not be mechanized. We need to team up with local and foreign universities to provide trained human capital to Sri Lankan hotel industry”, he said.

SLITHM is currently engaged in discussions with foreign institutes in Singapore, Australia and the Maldives to enhance the quality of tourism industry.

SLITHM has expanded its institutes to Koggala, Anuradhapura, Bandarawela and Kandy and another hotel school is scheduled to be opened in Ratnapura shortly.