ST JAMES, Jamaica — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has disclosed that approximately 177 students have completed the Hospitality and Tourism Management Programme (HTMP) to date.

According to a release, the programme, which was launched in 2018, facilitates two years of training, free of cost, for students in grades 11, 12 and 13, enabling them to gain entry level certification for the tourism industry.

Students then graduate with an Occupational Associate Degree in Customer Service, American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) certification, National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) level-four certification, and Customer Service Industry Association recognition.

Addressing a press briefing held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on Friday, Minister Bartlett noted that the programme was conceptualised to “create the stages for the development of the tourism worker from high school into the tourism industry.”

“We are having first-time employees, who are teenagers, having a degree coming into the tourism workforce and that immediately sets the stage for employment that is different, and a kind of remuneration level also, that would be different,” he pointed out.

The Minister noted that so far, some $100 million has been spent under the training and certification programme.

The pilot cohort graduated in 2020, while the second batch of trainees, comprising some 153 students, is slated to complete training later this year.

Bartlett noted that this will bring to 330 the number of students who will graduate from the programme over four years and join the tourism industry.

Graduates and current participants in the programme include students from Iona High School in St Mary; Albert Town and Muschett high schools in Trelawny; Anchovy High School in St James; Jose Marti High School in St Catherine; and Marcus Garvey Technical High and Brown’s Town Community College in St Ann.

The HTMP is a first-of-its-kind certification programme developed by the AHLEI and is facilitated by the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation, a division of the Tourism Enhancement Fund.

It is a joint initiative between the Ministries of Tourism, and Education and Youth.