Bangkok--3 Mar--ScottAsia
The Lao National Institute of Tourism & Hospitality (Lanith) has taken a major step to develop catering skills in Laos' hotel sector. The institute has received a donation of modern kitchen equipment valued at US$50,000. The equipment was donated by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Fifty-seven items were delivered to the institute's administrators in Vientiane in February. Items included hot cabinets, fryers, a Boldgett convection oven, Foinox combination oven, pizza oven, sinks, mobile trolleys, ice machine, bar fridge, mobile refrigerators, counter fridges, freezers, portable woks, a Euro cave, hot water boilers, linen shelves, Bain Maire, charcoal grill, electric grill, therma electric stoves, therma gas stoves, Hobart mixer, buffet hot plates, and other items.
"The equipment is all in excellent condition," said Professor Kaye Chon, Dean and Chair Professor, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "We also have in place a very good maintenance contract so everything is fully maintained and operational."
The equipment will be installed in Lanith's training centre at the Technical Vocational School of Luang Prabang as well as the soon-to-be-built Lanith facility in Vientiane. "The donation provides an excellent opportunity for us to help nurture young talent within Laos' hospitality and tourism industry," said Chon.
The Poly U said it could no longer use the equipment as it was fitted out for previous premises. The school has now been relocated to a new location in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong.
With this donation the Lanith training centre located on the premises of the Technical Vocational School of Luang Prabang can be built and fully operable in 2011. "This is a wonderful development for our technical college in Luang Prabang. It will improve the quality of our hotel diploma programme there," said Dr Khongsy Sengmany, Director General of the Ministry of Education's Technical Vocational Education and Training Division.
The Lanith facility in Vientiane, which will be located on the Pakpasak Technical College campus, is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Lanith is part of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg supported bi-lateral development assistance to Laos. The Lanith complex will become the national centre of excellence in hospitality and tourism education and training. In addition to constructing Lanith, the Luxembourg-funded project is supporting the overseas training of 18 Laotian teachers, developing education and training materials in Lao language and conducting an outreach programme to provide industry training in the project's focus provinces.
About the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
PolyU's School of Hotel and Tourism Management is one of the world-leading providers of hospitality and tourism education. It is ranked No. 2 in the world among hotel and tourism schools based on research and scholarship, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research in 2009. With 60 academic staff drawing from 18 countries, the School offers programmes at levels ranging from PhD to Higher Diploma. It was awarded the 2003 International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators Institutional Achievement Award in recognition of its significant contribution to tourism education, and is designated by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation as one of its global Education and Training Centres.
About LANITH
Luxembourg recognises the importance of tourism to the Lao economy as it creates jobs, helps alleviate poverty, and increases foreign exchange revenue. As such, the Luxembourg Government is committed to supporting and raising the level of human resource development (HRD) in Laos' tourism and hospitality sector.
To achieve this, the Lao National Tourism Administration (LNTA) and the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation (Lux-Development) collaborated to implement Project LAO/020 in July 2008, with the aim of strengthening the human resource capacity in Laos' hospitality and tourism industry using an integrated approach.
Project LAO/020 focuses on five key intervention areas:
Elaborating an integrated HRD strategy (2010-2020)
Strengthening the capacity of tourism educators/trainers
Developing education curricula, training programmes, and supporting teaching/training materials
Increasing the LNTA's and Ministry of Education's capacity to deliver quality tourism and hospitality education/training by establishing LANITH (Lao National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality) as a model of "Best Practice"
Implementing an Outreach Programme in strategic provincial and rural communities
Among Project LAO/020's primary outputs is preparing an HRD strategy for the country's tourism sector. This led to commissioning comprehensive research into tourism employment and education in Laos, and subsequently three publications related to creating an effective approach for Achieving Service Quality Through People throughout the country. http://lanith.com/site/
Contact information
Peter Semone
Chief Technical Advisor
Email:
[email protected]
Tel: (+856 21) 263 172
Website: www.LANITH.com
Pauline Ngan
Marketing Manager
School of Hotel and Tourism Management
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Email:
[email protected]
Tel: (+852) 3400-2634
Website: www.polyu.edu.hk/htm
Media queries
Ken Scott
ScottAsia Communications
Email:
[email protected]
Mobile: (+66) 81 931 2753