Skills for Tourism Project ready and poised for its final year of implementation

The Skills for Tourism Project (LAO/029) Steering Committee convened in Vientiane on Thursday to look back at its accomplishments in 2021 and to outline its targets for its final year of implementation.
The project was co-chaired by Minister of Education and Sports, Associate Prof. Dr Phout Simmalavong,
Charge d’Affaires of the Luxembourg Embassy, Mr Sam Schreiner and Deputy Director of Cooperation of the Swiss Agency for Development, Mr Christian Engler.

In its final year of implementation the Skills for Tourism Project (LAO/029) will specifically focus on the roll-out of the LaoSafe programme.

In his opening remarks, Dr Phout Simmalavong directly addressed the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating effect on the tourism and hospitality sector and the Lao economy as a whole for a second year in a row. However, the Minister was quick to point out ‘’the remarkable progress’’ the Skills for Tourism (LAO/029) achieved ‘’in a variety of intervention domains despite this year’s adversities’’.
Indeed, the project kept adjusting its interventions in the face of the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the while keeping the support of the hospitality sector’s recovery and the fight against poverty on top of its priorities. One of the ways this was achieved was by assessing the impact COVID-19 has had on Lao tourism and hospitality businesses through the conduct and publication of the 2021 the Tourism and Hospitality Enterprise Survey of Employment and Skills. Even though the survey’s report confirmed everyone’s suspicions of a sector in turmoil, it also outlined paths to be taken towards eventual economic recovery in 2022. 
Survey recommendations included the continued support to domestic tourism, which LAO/029 provided under the Lao Thiao Lao campaign and the launch of the What’s Up Laos app, which offers information about travel destinations across the Lao PDR, and includes maps, calendars, promotions, discounts, limited-time offers to grab, and a directory of hotels, tour agencies, restaurants, bars, and cafes.
The project also doubled down on its support to quality training to a variety of beneficiaries. To this date, more than 11,000 people have partaken in project-supported trainings, ranging from an intensive English language summer course for in-service vocational education teachers to the training in supervisory skills for female employees in the tourism and hospitality industry. As part of its continued efforts to quality vocational education, the project has also been involved in the commercial opening of The Academy Training Hotel and Restaurant in Vangvieng, which, ever since its inauguration, has been training numerous young tourism and hospitality students from the Vientiane Province Technical College by having them hone their practical skills in a real-life work setting. 
One key project activity for the year 2022 is the roll-out of the LaoSafe programme. As noted by Mr Sam Schreiner, the LaoSafe programme ‘’represents a concerted effort between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and the Skills for Tourism Project aiming at the improvement of hygienic practices and build-up of consumer confidence in the Lao Tourism and Hospitality sector’’. The programme has been piloted in Vientiane and Luang Prabang, with the first food and beverage outlets, hotels, tour guides and drivers having received their LaoSafe accreditations in the last month of March.
The Skills for Tourism Project (LAO/029) is co-financed by the Governments of the Lao PDR, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Switzerland, and implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR and LuxDev, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency.

By Advertorial Desk
 (Latest Update April 8, 2022)