Tafileh’s first tourism, hospitality institute opens

AMMAN — The southern city of Tafileh on Sunday opened its first vocational training institute (VTI) for hospitality and tourism with the support of USAID.

The institute will prepare young Tafileh residents “with the career skills to meet the anticipated industry growth and development”, said a USAID statement sent to The Jordan Times. 

According to the Tourism Strategy, 25,000 trained employees will be required to accommodate the industry’s growth nationwide over the next four years.

The Tafileh centre is the 14th hospitality and tourism training institute opened in Jordan by the Vocational Training Corporation, the statement said. 

The institute will be able to train 60 students per semester to help them qualify for jobs in tourism.

 “Since the 2006 revitalisation of Jordan’s vocational training system for hospitality and tourism, more than 10,000 youths, and more importantly, students from less privileged parts of Jordan have been encouraged to enrol in these programmes,” the statement quoted US Ambassador Alice G. Wells as saying.

USAID provided the technical and financial assistance to refurbish the institute’s facilities and supports a number of initiatives to prepare Jordanians to enter the tourism workforce.

USAID worked in partnership with the labour and tourism ministries, Vocational Training Corporation (VTC), and the Employment, Technical and Vocational Education Training (E-TVET) Fund to modernise the VTC’s Tafileh Hospitality and Tourism Institute, the statement said. 

 “The opening of this workshop reflects part of our joint work in the tourism sector with our partner USAID. This is a chain of work that starts with creating a centre of excellence and specialised centres for tourism, in cooperation with the private sector, to increase the employability of male and female youths,” VTC Director General Majed Habashneh said.