The International Training Institute (ITI), through its Division of Tourism and Industry, and IHG Hotels and Resorts have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) yesterday at Crowne Plaza Residences in Port Moresby.
The common goal of both entities is to create more training opportunities and practical, hands-on experience for students in Papua New Guinea’s tourism and hospitality industry.
Related news: https://emtv.com.pg/more-ojt-opportunities-for-iti-students/
The MOU incorporates IHG’s three hotels in Port Moresby: the Holiday Inn and Suites, the Holiday Inn Express and the Crowne Plaza Residences.
David Shayestehfar, General Manager of Crowne Plaza Residences, Port Moresby, said the partnership started as a conversation at the hotel after the Palms meeting at APEC House.
Shayestehfar said IHG was able to send colleagues from the hotel to Australia, where they were able to discuss meaningful ways to continue creating more training opportunities for students at different organisations, including ITI.
“So, we’re really excited to now formalize this,” Shayestehfar said.
He said there had already been some great opportunities, with some students involved in events being conducted, including the AFI event at APEC.
ITI Chairman and Co-Founder, Mr. Senthil Kumaran Sentheyval, said the MOU was a progression from the initial meeting with IHG and that Crowne Plaza was now being incorporated as well.
“But this is a totally new agreement. We had one with them, but now we’re having one with all the groups,” he said.
He said Shayestehfar had been very proactive in getting the agreement done.
“I think it’s very important because ultimately tourism is very important for Papua New Guinea, and we have our diploma in tourism as well,” he said.
“This is also one step for our students to be able to get some experience, hands-on experience.”
Co-Founder Kumaran Sentheyval said Crowne Plaza had been providing students with a lot of experience, which was what was needed.
“Because ultimately education is one side, practical experience is another side,” he said.
The ITI Chairman and Co-Founder said that, in the long term, through internships under ITI’s diploma programmes, they would try to link up with Crowne Plaza and the IHG group to get more people on board.
He said there were also opportunities that could emerge in tourism, pointing to Kokopo, where he said they were setting up a tourist destination centre.
“Even they’re going to be having a cruise terminal here. That’s what I heard. So, there’s a lot of opportunities that’s going to come up, and PNG is beautiful in that sense,” he said.
Co-Founder Kumaran Sentheyval said Papua New Guinea had much more natural beauty to promote and that it was a good destination.
“I’ve been to Fiji and all that. Fiji is very nice, but PNG has much more natural beauty for us to promote, and it’s a good destination,” he said.
He said the partnership was very important for students because they would experience first-class institutions, see what they were doing and learn how they operated.
Co-Founder Kumaran Sentheyval said some students may have probably never been inside a hotel, sometimes seeing hotels only from the perspective of dining and similar activities.
“So, this is a good opportunity for them to see behind the scenes. What needs to be done? What are the experiences?” he said.
He said the more experience students received; the better their future job opportunities would be.
He also said students would be better prepared when they entered the workforce because they would already have some experience.
He thanked Shayestehfar for being very helpful in getting students involved in one-day events.
“There’s a lot of one-day events we had,” he said.
He said there had also been a discussion with Annie to organize similar activities for the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.
“So, I think we can all work together,” he said.
“This is the future because we do the training side. They have the practical side. And potentially, if some of them do well, they’ll get a full-time job.”
Anne Busfield, Portfolio General Manager, IHG PNG, described the signing as a milestone event for IHG Hotels and Resorts, ITI and the future of the tourism and hospitality industry in Papua New Guinea.
