BOI signs agreement for Hospitality Industry Academy

AAH Managing Director Kelum de Silva (left) receives the Certificate of Registration from BOI Chairman Hemasiri Fernando

The BOI signed an agreement with the Australian Academy of Hospitality (AAH) recently. Hemasiri Fernando, Chairman, signed on behalf of the Board and Kalum de Silva, Managing Director of AAH signed the agreement on behalf of the Company.

Also present at the signing ceremony was BOI Director General Champika Malalgoda and AAH Academic Director Noorul Naima Markar. Australasian Academy of Hospitality was set up in Sri Lanka in partnership with Evolution Hospitality Institute in Sydney, Australia to provide higher education and training opportunities for Sri Lankan students in this growing field.

The Academy will be set up at Alexandra Place, Colombo 7.When completed it will create 26 new employment opportunities. The investment will be $ 279,000.

AAH provides quality programs from Certificate level to Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management on a mirror model in collaboration with Evolution Institute of Hospitality in Sydney, Australia.

‘Earn as you Learn – Paid Internships’, while studying internships are an integral part of all hospitality management programs offered at AAH. Leading hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka and overseas are partnered with AAH to provide paid internships which will make the students employable by the time they graduate from a prestigious Hospitality Qualification from Australia.Students will therefore have the opportunity to recover part of the cost from the training allowance they receive during the internships.

AAH students will then have the opportunity to transfer to either Evolution Institute of Hospitality in Sydney Australia after completing the Diploma or to an Australian university to complete the bachelor’s in hospitality management after the diploma or advanced diploma. The total contribution from Hospitality, Travel and Tourism to GDP was 11.6% in 2017. It is expected to grow to Rs. 1,595.5 billion or 11.7% of GDP in 2018. It is forecasts to rise 5.5% per annum to Rs. 2,718.1 billion (12.3% of GDP) by 2028.

The industry generated 404,000 jobs directly in 2017 (5.1% of total employment) It is forecast to rise to 1 million jobs in 2028 (12.8% of total employments).

AAH Managing Director Kelum de Silva stated: “What led to our starting this project was that while tourism arrivals have kept increasingly consistently the skill gaps for the staff in the industry was also growing.Australia has world renowned institutions in vocational training so this is the reason why we partnered with this Australian institute.”

“We were able to partner with hotels in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Australia.One experience was at Pullmans in Dubai which operates a totally paperless environment, a new capacity that will be introduced by AAH in Sri Lanka,” he adde