Hotel and Tourism Management Institute to start in 2007
13 January 2005 – Bhutan’s first hotel and tourism management institute which will be fully established by 2007 will offer vocational courses to in-service people and diploma courses to fresh trainees say officials of the Department of Tourism.
“The vocational courses will be about nine months and the diploma courses will be between one or two years,” said the institute’s director, Thinley Dorji. The institute, which also have a hotel, laundry and kitchen for practical lessons, classrooms for theoretical lessons and boarding facilities for about 90 trainees.Thinley Dorji said that the institute was primarily aimed at professionalising the quality of services in the tourism industry. “The industry demands professionalism but only about 20 percent of the estimated 5,000 people employed in the tourism sector are considered trained,” said the institute’s director. “The industry’s motto of ‘high value low volume’ demands manpower of high calibre.”
The department has already sent ten degree graduates to Bangkok in Thailand for a two-year course to train as instructors for the institute. Sustainable tourism development, cooking management, tourism management, front office management, hotel management, housekeeping management, tourism marketing and tours and travels management are some of the areas the graduates are specialising in.
Four of the trainees are sponsored by the Austrian government, which is also assisting in the renovation and construction of the institute that will be set up at the old Motithang hotel.
“The Royal Government of Bhutan has contributed land, building and the renovation costs and the Austrian government will provide technical assistant and training equipment. The institute is expected to be completed in two years. The renovation and construction work are expected to start by March this year.
Thinley Dorji said that the government agreed on setting up the institute in 2002 as the industry lacked trained professionals.
Meanwhile, the tourism department has begun giving short-term training to people already employed by the industry at the institute. As a member of the Network of Asia-Pacific Education and Training Institutes in Tourism (APETIT) from December 2003, Thinley Dorji said the institute could bring in trainers from member institutes to train Bhutanese in the tourism industry.
The tourism industry is the highest foreign exchange earner for Bhutan and the second largest employer after the civil service. In 2004 more than 9000 tourists visited the country which generated a gross revenue of US $ 12.45 million.
By Kinley Wangmo
kinley_w@kuensel.com.bt