Sri Lanka rolls out tourism training for low-income youth
COLOMBO – The Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Samurdhi will jointly identify young men and women from low-income families across Sri Lanka for a new training program aimed at building the skilled workforce needed for the country’s growing tourism industry, Deputy Minister of Tourism Ruwan Ranasinghe said.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), Ranasinghe said the program, named Sathkaraye Shrama Sena – Hotel Operations Multitasker Program, would provide proper training to disadvantaged youth, improving their family incomes while addressing the human resource needs of a tourism sector expanding on the international stage.
The deputy minister said the initiative was launched jointly by the Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Samurdhi to identify young people from low-income backgrounds and draw them into the tourism sector through structured education and training. While the program initially targeted training 1,000 people, Ranasinghe said 505 trainees had already completed the course and moved into jobs across the sector.
He added that the government was also expanding infrastructure to support the sector’s long-term human resource needs. As part of that effort, the Hotel Training School in Jaffna is to be converted into a centre for Ayurvedic tourism training, with new investment being sought to support the shift. Ranasinghe said investments were also being directed toward upgrading hotel schools in Kandy, Pinnawala, Habarana and Anuradhapura to expand their capacity to train more students.
–ENCL
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