Les Roches upbeat on education outlook
Les Roches, a hospitality management institution, has reported a positive outlook for tourism and hospitality education following the pandemic.
Carlos Díez de la Lastra, chief executive of Les Roches Global Hospitality Education, said the firm hopes to produce local workers to lead the global tourism industry, following international standards.
“We want to have the right talent for specific roles with companies in every country,” said Mr Díez de la Lastra.
He said multinational companies abroad sometimes need to recruit employees from Europe and the US to take managerial positions, which could incur higher expenses.
Thailand continues to see strong growth for the international hotel chain pipeline over the next 3-5 years.
Mr Díez de la Lastra said the global hospitality industry is growing by around 5% a year, especially the luxury segment, which is a specialised field for Les Roches.
Since the pandemic, people were seeking the human touch and spending more time on travel, including remote working.
He said those factors helped create an optimistic outlook for tourism and hospitality education over the next few years.
He said the strength of Les Roches is in training students to lead hospitality businesses with luxury service standards, such as luxury car services or red carpet event management.
It also launched an initiative allowing students to learn and interact with the latest hospitality technology to prepare for the digital age.
The company operates two campuses in Switzerland and Spain, with about 2,000 students of more than 100 nationalities, of which 28% are from Asia-Pacific. About 700 Thais have graduated from Les Roches.
Mr Díez de la Lastra said that over the past 20 years, around 40% of graduates were recruited by non-hotel industries such as the retail segment which wanted to upgrade customer experiences.
This was a shift from the previous trend where the majority worked in the hotel sector.
Mr Díez de la Lastra said Les Roches was ranked among the world’s top four higher education institutions for hospitality industry management by QS World University Ranking in 2023.
The institute offers undergraduate, postgraduate, executive programmes and short courses.
Mr Díez de la Lastra said that the most popular programmes include a BBA in Global Hospitality Management, an MBA in Global Hospitality Management, and a Master’s in Marketing and Management for Luxury Tourism.
In Thailand, Minor Hotels has launched the Asian Institute of Hospitality Management with an academic agreement with Les Roches.