Lanith Wins WTTC’s Global Tourism Award

Hainan (China) – April 28, 2014 – The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to congratulate the Lao National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality (Lanith) on winning the prestigious World Travel & Tourism’s (WTTC) Tourism for Tomorrow’s People Award 2014. The award recognizes excellence in the development of capacity building, training, and education to build a skilled tourism workforce for the future.

Lanith Chief Technical Advisor and PATA Executive Board Member Peter Semone, who along with Technical Expert, Education, Maeve O’Brien, accepted the award on Lanith’s behalf at WTTC’s 14th Global Summit in Hainan, China, on April 24, 2014.

The Tourism for Tomorrow’s People Award recognizes the partnership of private, public or non-profit organisations which are dedicated to developing core skills needed within the travel and tourism industry. The focus of the partnership is on training or education at either high/secondary school, college/tertiary education or those from outside established educational systems.

Lanith demonstrated a broad commitment to the “Tourism for Tomorrow” principles in its programmes by showing how the curricula for its Passport to Success skills training regimen and two-year Lanith Diploma education coursework are largely based on industry needs, as seen in the project’s initial research, with interviews of hoteliers and tour operators, through implementing the two capacity-building streams.

Lanith’s two year Diploma in Tourism and Hospitality, supported by Luxembourg Development (LuxDev), began as a pilot programme for around 300 students in June 2012 and now has a new college in Vientiane, Lao PDR with sixty fulltime students. The curriculum was formally accredited by the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports in 2013.

Its Passport to Success training program, started in 2011, offers short vocational courses in areas such as customer service, kitchen management and food production. Now the biggest industry training program in Lao PDR, nearly a thousand hospitality and tourism staff have studied subjects such as customer service, food and beverage operations, management and communications.

Lanith has previously been recognised by PATA with the Pacific Asia Travel Association 2012 Grand Award for Education for its Passport to Success skills training programme.

About PATA
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), is a not-for profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region.

The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 90 government, state and city tourism bodies, 30 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 57 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond.

Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 41 local PATA chapters worldwide, who organise training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership of the Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC), which includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC.

The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing, Sydney, Dubai, London and New York.

Visit www.PATA.org

Media Contact:
Paul Pruangkarn
PATA Communications
Bangkok Thailand
Tel: +66 2 658 2000
E-mail: Communications@PATA.org
Online newsroom: www.PATA.org/Press