NEW DELHI: To make human resources in the tourism industry future-ready, the Ministry of Tourism has agreed with the country's top global hospitality chains, which will be training and mentoring the students in government-run hotel management institutions.
The minister of Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that the top Indian hospitality brands had agreed to design the curriculum of state-run institutions and give training as per their requirement.
“We had a discussion with stakeholders keeping in mind the future requirement of human resources in the tourism industry. The meeting was held in view of potential in the sector. Our observation is that the way the industry is expanding; the requirement of trained professionals will also increase. However, the institutions are not getting students in accordance with their capacity. And the industry doesn’t have the manpower. We had formed a committee to assess the gap; states were engaged and industry people were also roped in,” said the minister.
According to the findings of the committee report, the ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with the hospitality groups to impart training to the students in 21 government institutions. The ministry said that meetings with the stakeholders in the tourism sector in the last four months including travel and hotel operators had benefited immensely and all of us are very motivated.
“Finally, we have entered into agreements with the country's top global hospitality chains such as Taj hotels, Marriott International and Radisson Group. The groups have signed MoU with three-five institutes. They will impart training as per their requirement. They will design a curriculum for them. After on-ground training, the groups will also absorb the students. Results will be visible in the next one-two year,” said Shekhawat.
The government hotel management institutes various courses—six months to three years duration. Besides reducing the gap between demand and supply, Shekhawat further said that the Government is working on sustainability simultaneously.
“We have launched a ‘Green Leaf Rating’ based on sustainability parameters like star rating for hotels and other accommodations; based on whether they are recycling the water and what system they have to conserve electricity. New projects are sanctioned according to efforts proposed for sustainability,” he added.
The governments are also proposing initiatives to change the behaviour of the tourists so that they can behave responsibly.
“Sikkim has already adopted a proposal. The tourists have to show at every checkpoint that they are carrying a bin with them in the vehicle. They will keep all trash in the bin and dump it at designated sites,” Shekhawat said.