Trainers get lessons in tourism management, hospitality

The government, Temasek Foundation (TF) - ITE Education Services (ITEES) urban management tourism and hospitality/specialists programme has been strengthening the management skills of Lao personnel in this field.   
The initiative is a collaboration between Laos and Singapore and is supported by the TF and ITEES to upgrade the skills competency of hospitality trainers. The project started in December 2017 and is expected to end in December 2019.
Three ministries are involved in the skills training for the hospitality sector, namely the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Education and Sports, and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mrs Baykham Khatthiya, underscored the success of similar training programmes in housekeeping operations and front office operations, which took place last year.
These trainings led to the creation of over 30 master trainers who, in turn, trained additional teachers and trainers in those disciplines.
She said the current training programme aimed to improve the competencies of Lao trainers and teachers in the tourism and hospitality sector.
The training has played an important role in the sustainable development of the labour sector.
The project is taking place in collaboration with other relevant sectors. The targeted teachers and trainers come from skills development centres and educational institutions and use a standard training manual/guidebook.
The project consists of three rounds of training. Round 1 took place in 2017 on housekeeping operations; round 2 took place in 2018 on front office operations; and round 3 takes place in 2019 on restaurant operations.
The project is co-funded by the TF, ITEES and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare with support from the Skills for Tourism Project, which is co-financed by the governments of Laos, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Each round of training comprised 1 week of customer service training in Laos and two weeks of practice-oriented training in Singapore.
After the training, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare will arrange for the 20 trained master trainers to share their knowledge with another 60 trainers (ratio 1:3) through a series of Post-Training Sharing Workshops. The objective of these workshops is to cascade the learning to benefit other trainers who did not attend the training provided by ITEES.
As of today, the project has successfully trained 59 master trainers in the three hospitality areas mentioned above. In addition, another 120 trainers were trained through Post-Training Sharing Workshops in housekeeping operations and food.
The last of these workshops in the field of restaurant operations is taking place from July 8-12 to further train at least another 60 teachers/trainers. In total, at least 180 trainers will be trained through the Post-Training Sharing Workshops.

By Phetphoxay Sengpaseuth
(Latest Update July 12, 2019)