Hospitality, foods & tourism: Why it’s the most important career move you can make today

1. Why is Hospitality and Tourism important?

The economic prospects of Sri Lanka’s post-war development have impacted a few key industries; but tourism and hospitality in particular are among the fastest growing and most promising sectors. A sector that is positioned to benefit directly from the anticipated boom in tourism is the Sri Lankan hotel industry. Sri Lanka is now a top rated travel destination with many accolades from the New York Times, Emirates Holidays and The Lonely Planet Guide. To serve these markets, over 16,000 hotel rooms are under construction with many more in the pipeline. Restaurants, retailers, shopping malls, adventure tourism companies, water sports companies are setting up around the island to serve tourists and are expected to set Sri Lanka’s service economy off on a massive growth trajectory. Over the next few years, revenues from tourism are expected to hit the $1 billion mark, a fraction of what is possible in Sri Lanka. In the broader Asia Pacific region, the number of new hotel rooms in the pipeline according to the most STR Hotels report is over 370,000 with new employment creation in the region of over 20 million new places.

2. What are the career opportunities in Foods, Tourism and Hospitality in Sri Lanka?

In line with the industry boom, many foreign and local hotel operators have already expressed their intention to build new properties in Sri Lanka. For instance, Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Asia Ltd is building a 500-room luxury hotel in Colombo at a cost of USD 500 million.. Several local companies have also announced plans to build new properties as well as to increase their capacity and refurbish existing facilities; these include John Keells Holdings PLC, Aitken Spence PLC, Softlogic Holdings. On a related note, higher-quality accommodations are necessary for Sri Lanka to attract the kinds of highend tourists that value the Sri Lankan experience. Careers in Foods, Tourism and Hospitality are wideranging—from interpreters, translators and guestservices officer who strive to make guests feel welcome and at home, to five- star chefs creating exciting culinary experiences, to marketing and business development staff continuously creating products and services to meet international guests’ high standards. There is a wide range of skill sets and career choices for smart and driven candidates who know that they can make it in hospitality.

3. Myth’s about low-paying jobs. Now hotels and restaurants are looking for graduates from all walks of life, talented and multi-lingual staff. “Hotels hire only entry-level staff.”

Hotels are looking for multilingual, highly confident, skilled and intelligent staff across all functions. From sales and marketing and business development to accounting, finance, engineering, Food & Beverage services, hotel departments and the tourism industry in general is composed of entire teams. While, like every other industry there are clearly set progression pathways, at the senior level, managers and executives need solid experience in team-management and business development.

“Salaries are not comparable to other industries”

Entry level wages across most industries in Sri Lanka tend to be low. However in the tourism industry, employees are often compensated in other ways, through transportation allowances, food allowances, wardrobe allowances and even entertainment allowances at the upper tiers. In addition, all staff is entitled to Service Charge, a percentage of hotel and restaurant revenues that are directly allocated among staff. At the upper tiers, executives, managers and directors will be compensated through bonus and retention programmes and will often find that wages will rise sharply after a few years of committed service. At the very upper levels, Executive Chefs of large hotel complexes are likely to take home a monthly pay package of LKR 1.6 million. International chefs headhunted for Sri Lankan hotels have even been known to turn these salaries down!

As more international hotel chains come online, they will want to attract high quality talent with above industry average wages—a promising outlook

for new candidates looking for careers in hospitality.

“The Hospitality Industry is Inhospitable to Women”

The industry welcomes female recruits at competitive and rewarding salary packages. The hospitality industry requires diversity and values both its women and male staff equally. The team atmosphere, busy days, sense of accomplishment and continued progress and advancement makes careers in hospitality a wonderful choice for women. Across the world there are countless examples of women who have risen to the top of their careers as General Managers, Chefs, Event Management Directors and CEOs of hospitality chains. Hospitality employers in Colombo look for smart, accomplished and driven women to think out of the box and create dramatic change in the industry.

4. How do I choose the best Hospitality and Tourism management studies programme?

The traditional mode of hospitality studies started by Swiss hospitality schools have come to an end. The development of the learning methods of Australia and Asia will create the experiences and differences that students need to succeed. . Australian Hospitality Schools like The William Angliss Institute are Australian Government accredited specialist centre for Tourism, Hospitality and the Culinary Arts. The Institute was established as a Food Trades School in Melbourne, Australia in 1940 which initially trained students in butchery, cooking, waitering, pastry and bread making. With this strong heritage in foods, William Angliss went on to offer Hospitality Studies in 1960, and later added Tourism Studies to its portfolio, rounding off its offerings to serve the entire industry. As the world became smaller and East Asia grew in to a major, global travel phenomenon, William Angliss began offering its courses outside Australia in 1994. In 2012, with over 8 campuses and partner institutions across China, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and now in Sri Lanka William Angliss Institute is one of the world’s leading specialist centres for Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts.