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Wednesday, 5 July 2017 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
Despite Sri Lanka holding an envious position as a travel destination, Tourism Development Minister John Amaratunga insisted good jobs remain vacant and encouraged more people to apply for employment in the sector.
Speaking at the 38th graduation ceremony of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), he called on the 77 fresh graduates to first serve the country before seeking overseas employment as Sri Lanka needs their services at this moment in its tourism industry.
According to him, the country’s hospitality sector offers direct employment to around 150,000 individuals and this number is expected to double to 300,000 by 2020 to service the four million visitors Sri Lanka is targeting. The national room inventory, which is around 25,000 at present, will also increase to 45,000 by 2020.
He pointed out that remuneration in the hotel sector has significantly improved and it was one of the highest paying industries in the country.
“When the monthly payment, which includes basic salary and service charge combined, is factored along with other benefits such as free meals, accommodation, medical benefits and so on, the income is much higher than other fields.
“Today we have a serious issue with regard to manpower in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The demand is higher than the supply. This is because of the notable expansion of the hotel sector, while youth continue to focus on more traditional career paths as opposed to the more glamorous hospitality careers. The result is that many lucrative job opportunities go a-begging,” he told the gathering.
Calling the fresh graduates the country’s tourism ambassadors, the Minister explained that these hotels will open up thousands of opportunities for the country’s youth and insisted that it was their responsibility to both attract and train them to take up responsible positions in these emerging establishments.
“It is also noteworthy that the salaries paid by the big hotel chains are now comparable to what is being paid globally. Hence, there is no longer any reason for our qualified hoteliers to look for jobs overseas as their income will be greater if they stay here.”
However, he stressed that there are still baseless, ill-informed and outdated theories and misconceptions among the youth stating that the hospitality trade is not something that is suitable for women.
Noting that social media today is a very powerful tool and one bad experience could negatively influence thousands of people, Amaratunga insisted that the 77 fresh graduates had to be aware of the power of social media and needed to always ensure that those who visited Sri Lanka were treated well so that the same social media could be leveraged on to positively influence other visitors.
The Minister said this Government is very focused on making tourism the engine of national economic growth and the number one foreign exchange earner by 2020.
“There is already a tourism master plan that is being implemented through a dedicated tourism taskforce in order to achieve these goals. All of you in the industry have your own little tasks to fulfill in order to make the four million dream come true,” he added.
