KITTS to conduct courses to skill women for tourism jobs: Tourism Minister
Trivandrum / June 5, 2023
Thiruvananthapuram, June 05: Seeking to mould skilled women professionals to handle a wide range of jobs in the fast-expanding tourism sector, Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), an autonomous institution under the Department of Tourism, is all set to conduct six courses and 13 training programmes exclusively for women.
Announcing the upfront initiative at a press conference here today, Tourism Minister Shri P A Mohamed Riyas said around 600 job opportunities are expected to arise in tourism and hospitality sector exclusively for women within a year.
While the training programmes will be free, scholarships will be provided for the candidates enrolling for diploma courses. With the launch of these programmes, KITTS is expected to address the growing demand for trained and skilled professionals for a wide range of jobs in tourism sector, the Minister said.
“By conducting free training and diploma programmes with scholarship for women, KITTS is playing a vital role in the State government’s aim of creating more jobs through sustainable development of tourism”, Shri Riyas said.
“These programmes are structured to create a large pool of highly skilled professionals to handle a wide range of jobs in tourism and make the visitors feel totally at home, keeping up Kerala’s tradition of hospitality, religious harmony and secular spirit. Also, efforts are on to secure the Center of Excellence status for KITTS”, the Minister said.
On the occasion, the Minister also felicitated Arya V M, a former lecturer of KITTS, who secured 36th rank in the Civil Services Examination 2022. Dr Dileep M R, Director KITTS, and Dr B Rajendran, Principal KITTS, were present.
The conduct of Multi Skilled Hospitality Executive Diploma Courses for women is aimed at ensuring employment for women in the hospitality and tourism sector. The programme consists of six courses and 13 training programs. More than 600 women will be enrolled.
The fee for the course, which will impart a variety of skills like front office management, housekeeping, and food and beverage services, is Rs. 30,000. There will be fee relaxation for candidates belonging to SC/ST category. Candidates from other categories will get a 50 percent scholarship. The applicants for the course, to which the admission will be on merit basis, must have passed plus-two.
Shri Riyas said that KITTS will ensure 100% placement for all those who successfully complete the six-month course.
Creating employment and promoting entrepreneurship for local communities is part of sustainable tourism development. Through the one-month entrepreneurship development training programme conducted by KITTS, women will be provided with free guidance and skill training which would, in turn, enable them to start small enterprises.
As part of KITTS’s Tourism Knowledge Sharing Initiative for encouraging serious research in tourism, the library of KITTS will be made accessible to scholars, Shri Riyas said. Students and researchers from government educational institutions and university centres can use the library without any fee. The library has more than 5000 books on tourism and digital editions of international tourism journals. Scholars from aided and private sector institutions can get reference membership in the library by paying Rs.5000.
Presently, KITTS offers MBA in Travel and Tourism besides other tourism-related PG diploma courses, BBA and BCom.
