SLITHM’s training role expands in tourism industry
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Picture shows six members of the SLITHM faculty in Colombo who obtained Masters in Tourism Economics and Hotel Management conducted by the Department of Economics of the University of Colombo.
With Sri Lanka achieving 2 million arrivals for the first time in its history last year and the numbers expected to grow this year, the country’s hospitality industry is facing the challenge of a serious manpower shortage.
However the country’s premier tourism and hospitality industry trainer is optimistic that the issue is well under control.
“At the rate the hospitality industry has been expanding in the past few years it has no doubt been a challenge to prepare a skilled workforce to feed the industry. It is therefore noteworthy that SLITHM, which is the premier national institution tasked with training personnel for the hospitality industry has taken up the challenge in a positive spirit by increasing its annual output without compromising on the quality of its products,” noted Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga speaking on the success of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) which comes under the purview of his ministry.
A ministry media release said that SLITHM formerly known as the Ceylon Hotel School, has been in the forefront of training personnel for the hospitality industry across all levels from job specific craft courses to high caliber professionals not only to meet national demands but also global requirements. Last year SLITHM trained 5,000 people compared to below 3,000 in 2015. In accordance with the 2016 Budget, 650 individuals were trained by private sector institutions under the guidance of the ministry through SLITHM which monitored training quality and provided necessary resource assistance for the successful completion of the programmes.
“Marking a significant milestone, 131 fully fledged hospitality professionals graduated from SLITHM last year. This is the highest number of graduates to pass out from the institution in a single batch since its inception 50 years ago. All of these graduates have secured employment in senior management positions,” the release said.
Last year, SLITHM established new schools in Jaffna and Polonnaruwa.