Govt plans to open university catering to tourism industry
NEW DELHI: To meet the growing market for tourism in the country, the government is planning to set up a national university for tourism and hospitality.
The National Tourism University (NTU) is expected to bridge the gap between demand and supply in the tourism industry. At the rate at which the industry is growing, the country needs to train close to 2 lakh people each year to match the demand. At present, there are only around 60,000 skilled workers in the sec-tor. he university aims to unite the degrees offered by more than 50 institutes of hotel management and bring them under a common umbrella. ism
According to sources, the tourism ministry's proposal has been forwarded to the human resources ministry, which has agreed in principle. This is to be formally approved by a competent authority in the government.
The university, which will come under the Central University Act, will offer graduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes, and will focus on developing employable skills, sources said.
A degree in tourism and hospitality management provides students with the business skills and cultural education necessary to run travel agencies, operate food services, promote tourism and organize corporate trips around the world.
“The university is conceptualised to be an amalgamation of Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management and Institute of Hotel Management. There is also a proposal to create a faculty of languages, so students can be trained in various languages,” official sources said.
There could also be a School of Dhaba Management for street food training.