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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 May 2000 Issue No. 481 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 11 - 17 May 2000 Issue No. 481
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Features Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Making the grade
By Rehab SaadQuality of service is the aim. Tourist officials and businessmen alike realise its importance in attracting more tourists to Egypt, but until now, they have satisfied themselves with little more than righteous public calls for a higher level of excellence in Egypt's service industry.
Training courses for people involved in various aspects of the tourism industry are arranged by the government through the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers, in cooperation with the Social Development Fund. But businessmen in the tourism sector have long considered the training insufficient to prepare industry professionals for the calibre the Egyptian service industry has set as its aim.
Investors believe that with the number of hotel rooms multiplying at the present rate (expected to increase from the current 95,000 rooms to more than 300,000 in the next 17 years), the need for a new generation of hospitality professionals has become urgent. To satisfy this need, two Swiss institutes, the first of their kind in Egypt, have opened their doors along the Red Sea Coast.
Recognising the importance of establishing advanced institutes with experienced teachers in Egypt, Mohamed El-Wardani, chairman of Egyptian-Swiss Company for Hotel Projects, attracted the Swiss Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL) to open the Sharm Hospitality Management High Institute, in Sharm El-Sheik. In Hurghada, Kamel Abu Ali, owner of Pick Albatros company and one of the more established investors in the tourism sector in Egypt, has attracted the Glion Group of Switzerland to establish the International Higher Institute for Hotel and Tourism Management Glion-Hurghada.
At the inauguration ceremony of the Sharm institute, El-Wardani stressed that the string of new hotels continually emerging calls for the support of a "modern generation of professionals." Calling the institute a "gift for the tourism industry," El-Wardani said the Sharm Hospitality Management High Institute "fulfills the dreams of a new generation that is eager to catch up with the cutting edge of international, state-of-the-art hospitality."
The school's programmes offer an education system that combines theory and practice, developing creativity and respect of international standards, El-Wardani said. Graduates of the institute will receive a bachelor's degree in hotel management, recognised by the Ministry of Higher Education, and will have the opportunity to attend summer management courses in Switzerland.
Training by the sea: If you're going to study what tourists want, you might as well do it in a place where tourists go, like the International Higher Institute for Hotel Management in Hurghada (above)
Jan Huygen, chairman of the Glion Group, declared that the Hurghada institute "will provide top quality training and further education" for individuals and organisations in the field of hospitality and tourism management. Huygen stressed that it is the institute's aim to pursue the same quest for excellence in Egypt as Glion's hotel school in Switzerland, offering quality educational programmes that aid young adults to achieve ambitious career goals.
Courses at the Hurghada institute will begin in September and hold a class of 360 students from Egypt and neighbouring countries. The academic programmes consist of eight semesters over four years, including three six-month internships, in addition to numerous seminars for those already in the industry.
Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui hailed the two openings as pioneering initiatives executed by the private sector and stressed that the upgrading of the professional standard of the workers in the field of tourism is one of the main goals of the Ministry of Tourism.
"Such high institutes that are run by foreign establishments provide not only advanced education services, but also trained Egyptian manpower," El-Beltagui said.
The initiatives were also praised by Blaise Bodet, Switzerland's ambassador to Egypt, who said he was pleased that Switzerland has been chosen as a "teaching reference" to assist the growing tourist industry of Egypt.
