Germany’s TUI to develop hospitality training in Sri Lanka

Mar 14, 2017 (LBO) - Germany's TUI Group, a leading tour operator, said it would be expanding operations in Sri Lanka to assist in developing hospitality training facilities. TUI revealed these plans during a discussion between Minister of Tourism Development, Lands and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga and top board members of the group that included CEO David Burling and Managing Director, Garry Wilson in Germany last week.

Amaratunga had asked TUI to focus on promoting Sri Lanka as a high end tourist destination while also considering the north and east, the former war zone, when expanding their operations in the country in order to provide more economic opportunities for youth in the region. “Managing Director TUI Group Garry Wilson said that TUI was contemplating using Sri Lanka as a hub in the Indian Ocean region in order to service other regional destinations,” the Tourism Ministry statement said. TUI Group CEO Davind Burling said that they hoped to announce the group’s plans for the next three years in November this year. Under the proposed training program, trainees will receive internationally recognised certificates and language training, making them globally employable. As the first step, identified satellite schools of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management will be developed with TUI’s assistance. Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism, Paddy Withana, said that the German government was instrumental in initiating training programmes for Sri Lankan youth in the hospitality industry as early as the 1960s. He recalled that many of those who benefited from such training programmes have gone on to become top managers in leading hotels both in Sri Lanka and overseas.