With the third version of the training and updating program of human resources of hotels and companies in the sector, the hotel industry of this country is preparing to meet the demand of more than 6,000 vacancies during this year. A bet that will strengthen tourism activity, considered a State policy for the nearly US $ 1,445 million in contributions made to the national treasury, 9.5% of GDP.
The program, led by the Panamanian Hotel Association (Apatel) in conjunction with the National Institute of Vocational Training and Training for Human Development (Inadeh) and Freeman Group, aims to certify 6,220 people free of charge to occupy positions such as kitchen assistants, housekeepers, bellhops, supervisors, receptionists; in addition to offering other courses such as Trainer of Trainers, development of the Internal Resource, Promises and Sequences of Services.
For Sara Pardo, president of Apatel, "one of our main concerns about the hotel development that Panama is having is the preparation of human resources." The movement of personnel in the sector has increased in recent months and, according to estimates, this trend will increase as new hotels open their doors.
According to data from Apatel, for 2011 4,225 new rooms are projected and, on average, each room generates between 1 and 1.5 direct and 5 indirect jobs, so there will be about 5,070 new jobs. In addition, the opening of these hotels creates a new infrastructure of roads, which encourages circulation in restaurants, shopping centers and other tourist attractions.
In the last three years, the Panamanian Hotel Association and Inadeh have jointly trained more than 14,872 people, "an initiative that allowed to raise the levels of tourist attention to 84%, placing the country at the level of others in the region," Pardo said.
But to reach international standards, the training program has also focused on English, taking into account that during 2010 the total number of tourists reached 1.7 million and according to the projections of the Tourism Authority of the country, it is expected that by this 2011 the number of visitors will reach two million people.
