8,000 workers to be trained by JCTI in five years

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, says the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI) is to train some 8,000 tourism workers in the next five years, in an effort to boost the island’s tourism product.

In addition, the Minister notes that close to 1,000 persons will be certified by the JCTI by the end of the 2018/2019 financial year.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the second cohort of certified hospitality workers from the JCTI, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on October 17, the Minister emphasised that human capital development is critical to the five-pillar growth agenda of the Ministry, and also plays a key role in helping to boost Jamaica’s tourism product at the highest level of appreciation.

“We are determined that in the shortest possible time, we are going to create a cadre of trained and certified professional workers of our industry that will make it impossible for anyone to say we can find better workers outside of Jamaica,” he said.

The Minister emphasised that with the expected increase in hotel rooms in the sector over the next three years, the demand will be high for thousands of trained hospitality workers.

Some 250 persons received their JCTI certification on October 17, bringing the total number of persons trained and certified by the JCTI to 350.

Among the graduates were 14 certified hospitality educators, nine certified hospitality instructors, 17 culinary tutors, 12 culinarians and pastry chefs, 20 bartender trainers and more than 200 bartenders.

They received the American Culinary Federation and the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) certificates.

In the meantime, Minister Bartlett expressed satisfaction at the impact of the JCTI on the tourism sector.

“It has been less than a year that the JCTI has been launched and already it is making a huge impact on the sector with an increasing number of hospitality and tourism workers getting on board to be trained and certified as professionals in their fields,” he noted.

For his part, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, applauded the graduates and encouraged them to strive to move to the next level of certification in tourism and hospitality.

“What I want for Jamaican young people and workers is that we don’t stop learning, because you need to engage in continuous professional development,” the Minister said.

He expressed pleasure that the partnership forged between the tourism and education ministries to provide training and certification for workers in the hospitality sector is “bearing fruit”.

The JCTI was created to increase access to certification for recent graduates as well as workers in the industry.