Tourism Training Island bid documents to be ready soon - Ministry

Tourism Ministry has revealed that work on bid documents on Tourism Training Island will be completed in the next two to three weeks.

Mr. Mohamed Waheed Assistant Director General at the Tourism Ministry speaking to Miadhu Daily said that in order to encourage more Maldivians to take up carriers in the tourism industry and to provide them with necessary skills, Training Schools are to be set up in the north and south of the country. Mr. Waheed said that the concept of the Training Island and other necessary logistics on the bid documents of these training establishments will be complete in the next week.

The tourism training center in the north is to be set up Hdh. Nolhivarum and the training center in the south is to be set up in Gasgadufinolhu and Bodufinolhu of Laamu Atoll.

Ministry says when the training resorts are established it will have a bed capacity of 150 to 200 and will have all the modern conveniences plus administrative offices, lecture rooms, classrooms and accommodation blocks for students and staff.
Additional points will be awarded to proposals which contain agreements from schools of international reputation to conduct training in these resorts say the Ministry.

Ministry also says during the first year diploma courses acceptable to Maldives Accreditation Board will be held and that during the third year degree courses will be held. Ministry also revealed that these resorts will take up training of foreign students as well.

Empowering women through tourism

The positive contribution of tourism to women empowerment can only be determined if poverty reduction and the enhancement of women’s dignity and role in the work place are addressed. These are among the issues in UNWTO’s action plan to empower women through tourism, unveiled during ITB Berlin 2008 in early March. The Organization is committed to play a leading role in economic empowerment of women in the tourism sector.

The Action Plan has to be regarded as part of UNWTO's "triple commitment" objectives, in the framework of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals:

• tourism should benefit the poor;

• protection of our environment and

• empowerment of women.

Under the guidance of H.E. Mrs. Nilofar Bakhtiar, recently appointed UNWTO Special Advisor on Women and Tourism, the Organization has initiated procedures and established mechanisms to ensure that women really benefit from tourism.

"I want to enable women to become socially and economically empowered. More than anything I want this initiative to address issues of poverty reduction and give women a chance to earn a living with equity and dignity," said Mrs. Nilofar Bakhtiar.

UNWTO Deputy Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, said that "Ranging from 60-70 %, the percentage of women employed in the tourism sector is already relatively high; our joint action, will let us also improve the quality and conditions of women's employment in tourism, as well as create increased economic opportunities for self-employed women and micro-entrepreneurs."

During ITB Berlin, more than 70 tourism representatives, including the first female Minister of Tourism from Palestine, H.E. Ms. Khouloud Daibes, as well as H.E. Ms. Maha Kathib, Minister of Tourism of Jordan, participated in a discussion following UNWTO's presentation of its Action Plan for the next two years.

The plan encompasses the following activities:

• Establish a multi-stakeholder TASKFORCE;

• Put in place of a DATA COLLECTION system, including desk research and case studies;

• Initiate a BIENNIAL UNWTO-UNIFEM REPORT on the situation of women in tourism;

• Expand the website www.tourismgender.com into a PORTAL to serve as a global knowledge sharing e-network;

• Build INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS about opportunities for women in tourism

• Call upon UNWTO MEMBERS to take vigorous steps to support gender mainstreaming in national development processes so as to achieve women's equality in the tourism sector;

• Foster a NETWORK of activists, ambassadors and advocates and experts in gender issues from around the world.

Source: UNWTO