News
February 18, 2005

Hospitality Institute for SVG

Formal plans for the establishment of a hospitality institute for this country are currently ongoing.

Tourism and Culture Minister, Rene Baptiste revealed this during a press briefing at the tourism conference room last week Monday. {{more}}

The minister said a planning group is currently in session with the Ministry of Education to produce a blueprint for the establishment of this institution.

She said that through a consultant, a number of sites, including the Ottley Hall Marina, have been set aside as a facility to commence training in the hospitality field.

The tourism minister admitted to the media at Monday’s conference that although “there are many people with subjects, they are not trained in the field of hospitality” to carry out the quality service required by these businesses.

Although some level of hospitality training is being done at this country’s lone technical institute situated at Arnos Vale – the Technical College – the minister hinted that not enough was being done to facilitate the type of training demanded in such a critical service industry.

“Speaking with members of the hotel industry, they are concerned with the type of training curriculum at the Technical College here,” Baptise said.

She confirmed that her ministry was working along with personnel from the Taboo resort in Canada and the Taiwanese to examine what sort of assistance would be required for tourism and hospitality training here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.