Vocational Schools To Train Cambodians For Tourism Sector

Hospitality students learn their trade at Himawari Hotel Apartments Thanks to a $11.7 million loan from the French government, two vocational training facilities will be built to help supply workers in the burgeoning tourism sector, officials from the Ministry of Tourism revealed yesterday. The Ministry’s deputy director general Try Chhiv said the government will build a school in Phnom Penh, with a capacity of 1,000 students, and a 300-student school in Sihanoukville. “We are now preparing construction plans and we expect the schools to be finished by the end of 2018 and for the training of students to start at the beginning of 2019,” he added. The official noted that the schools would focus on training students to work as travel agency employees, tour guides and hotel services specialists, with the aim of raising the skills standard to meet requirements of the ASEAN Economic Community, which would allow students to find employment across the region. The Academy of Culinary Arts Cambodia, another joint venture between the Ministry of Tourism and Private Sector, will officially start skills training January 2017. The Cambodia Chefs Federation held its first demonstration/training session there on the 2nd of December. In a speech announcing the upcoming Sea Festival in Sihanoukville, Prime Minister Hun Sen said: “The government has focused on tourism as a priority sector. It is green gold as it is an important contributor to the social and economic development of the country and provides many job opportunities.” For more on this story, click here.