The French government is funding a programme to support the organisation of training courses to strengthen human resources in the Cambodian tourism sector. Hong Menea
The Ministry of Tourism on June 21 set up an online tourism vocational school registration system to make the process faster, smoother and easier for all involved.
The system is in accordance with Prakas No 154 dated September 18, 2014 on the “Management and Accreditation of Vocational Training Schools”, the ministry said in a June 21 announcement.
The ministry invited tourism vocational schools and training institutions looking to register or seeking ministerial accreditation to the website bit.ly/3imFIjZ
Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Chhay Sivlin said the new electronic system would speed up the process and help stave off the spread of the virus, as well as bring in more tourism players.
“I hope more of them are encouraged to participate after the Covid-19 situation improves, to become resources for tourism, which is facing shortages due to the pandemic.
“We the private sector will strengthen human resources again, in response to the reopening to visitors in the future. We’ve seen that most of the professionals in this field have gone away and are scattered everywhere, so we need to have a reunion to reorganise our services,” she said.
The ministry has been implementing the Trade Capacity Building Programme (TCBP), which is funded by a €1.5 million ($1.8 million) grant from Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the development arm of the French government, to help restore the tourism industry after Covid-19, as part of the Tourism Commercial Capacity Building Programme 2020-2023.
The grant package will support the organisation of training courses to strengthen human resources in the Cambodian tourism sector.
The TCBP project is divided into 18 courses and centres on seven skills – workplace communications, information and communications technology (ICT), marketing, project management, statistics analysis, food safety and financial management, according to the ministry.
The courses will be provided to ministry officials and members of tourism industry associations, and most are expected to be held through a mix of virtual and in-person sessions, it said.
Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak previously told The Post that the training programme is a show of support from a development partner to provide supplementary skills to those working in the Covid-19-wracked tourism sector.
However, he noted that the project would only focus on tour operators, travel agents and workers at hotels, guesthouses and restaurants.
The government expects the services sector to rebound, but at a slower pace than usual due to sluggish growth in the hotel and restaurant sub-sector, as well as the real estate and other support sub-sectors, according to the National Strategic Plan 2022-2024.
