Swiss Institute celebrates one year of successful operation and “takes a peek at the future”
A game changer for the industry after just one year in operation. International recognition by being a nominated finalist at the prestigious World Tourism Forum awards 2017. Swiss Institute proudly celebrates its first anniversary on the 7th June 2017 at the Hotel Movenpick, in Colombo.
With a long-term vision of developing talent in the hospitality industry, by bringing tourism business opportunities and jobs that ensure more inclusion of women and youth and better futures for rural communities in the country, The Swiss Institute embarked on several key initiatives to deliver this vision over their first year of operation.
Consulting and changing businesses to deliver operational excellence and grow sales.
Advocating sustainable tourism initiatives for developing rural communities: Comprising of ventures that benefitted both the host and visitor in equal measure, Swiss Institute worked with European partners to set up a platform to network grassroots tourism initiatives and mainstream hospitality service providers with top European travelers. This will in turn contribute to the socio- economic development of the country and its people in the long run.
Growing the talent pool for the hospitality industry: Bringing in the skills of Swiss professional training models that have positioned Switzerland as world leaders in the service industry, the Swiss institute has introduced Swiss standards customer service training for service sectors such as the banking, finance, hospitality, travel and aviation industry.
With the lack of employable talent being a key issue, Swiss Institute have also given industry players in the country a boost, by channelizing efforts to provide a future- ready workforce with the relevant skill sets to meet the complex challenges and needs of the fast-growing hospitality and tourism sector. This has been achieved through delivering a new breed of vocational training, which in turn have given birth to a new generation of Sri Lankan professionals that will help elevate the industry to the next level. This framework for skill development has also been made to align with the country’s national target in having an 800,000-strongly skilled workforce in the sector by 202youth across the country. Swiss Institute worked with prestigious top notch Swiss schools to enable this outcome. Currently several leading hotels in the country such as Shangri-La, Uga Resorts and Renuka Hotels have agreed to offer employment to the gradu- ates of Swiss Institute.
Collaboration with local schools: Swiss Institute also conducts Train-the-Trainer programs for other institutions to lift standards and enable them to develop meaningfully youth .
Additionally, O- level and A- level students have been offered state- of- the- art hospitality training in food & beverages, reception, housekeeping, supervisory skills and relationship management along with opportunities to participate in comprehensive programs in entrepreneurship and management with industry attachments in Europe. Offering a seamless connectivity that knits certificate and diploma programs with sufficient work experience, all programs have been delivered with Swiss Certification and at affordable prices.
Swiss Institutes mobile training school has brought top level training to the door step of communities in areas where tourism is prevalent in the country, helping overcome the hassle of people in these communities in having to travel to Colombo for training.
Over the last 12 months, the Institute has conducted workshops and engaged more than 100 hotel owners and operators across the country. Youth from over 60 schools have been engaged with, advised and guided on job opportunities, attracting them to consider the hospitality indus- try as a lucrative career option.
The way forward: Dr. Rohith Delikhan, CEO of Swiss Institute stated “In our second year we shall be focusing on major consultancy projects, management programs, industry attachments for students in Europe, and presence across Sri Lanka´s tourism hotspots to help drive local business development and digitalization – and a growing number of active partnerships with more institutions from Switzerland and the world. Our target: to create a thousand profitable businesses in rural communities and increase sales and revenues of existing businesses in travel, tourism, and the service industry in general”
Delivering cutting edge implementation consultancy for the first time in Sri Lankan out of Sri Lanka as well as premium, personalized training for the country’s youth and the industry, Swiss Institute aims to be a key player that will help Sri Lanka build its tourism sector, in having skilled and passionate individuals devoted to delivering the highest service standards that top international travelers expect. For more details visit: www.swissinstitute.org