Nevis: More than 2,000 hospitality workers receive training as part of COVID-19 sensitization sessions

A tourism official expressed satisfaction with responding to a series of COVID-19 sensitization training sessions for hospitality industry employees in Nevis. The Tourism Ministry's Product Development Officer, Nicole Liburd, expressed satisfaction. She scrutinized the executing of the sessions. According to her, the sessions drew hundreds of attendees from a cross-section of the industry.

She said as per estimates, approximately 2,000 or slightly more than 2,000 individuals are trained on the island of Nevis. This also includes people employed in the water transportation sector, the entertainment sector, the hotel and lodging industry, and the food and beverage industry, including restaurants and bars.

"We would have observed artisans being trained as well. We would have seen a number of additional small sectors, such as event planners. We would have seen babysitters and all of those; some who were not as direct, such as some of the providers for special events, such as a personal chef and stuff like that, so it was a truly broad-based response to the training," she explained.

Sensitization sessions will conclude in 2021 at 8:15 p.m. on December 07, 2021, at the Jessups Community Centre.

The Ministry of Tourism began training sessions in mid-summer 2020 to educate all tourism employees about the ongoing pandemic, to educate them about COVID-19, preventive and control measures, non-pharmaceutical measures, the importance of sanitizing, cleaning, and disinfecting their work areas, and how to operate using new customer service techniques moving forward.

Monthly training sessions are designed for individuals preparing to return to work, those new to the hospitality industry, and anyone who missed previous sessions. The 'Ministry has recently included information on the various vaccination options available to tourism employees in its training.

At the conclusion of the training sessions, everyone who attends is certified. Ms Liburd noted that employers have been requesting documentation of training for applicants seeking employment at their establishments.

"All attendees will receive certification, as many employers in the tourism sector require proof of COVID-19 certification to demonstrate that they understand the fundamentals, know the bare minimum, and have been exposed to this training," she explained.

In response to the question of whether the Ministry's training objectives have been met, Liburd stated that the Ministry had been a success.