More tourism training urged

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 34

More tourism training urged

Wellington reporter New Zealand will have to train an estimated 37,500 more people by 1991 to work in tourism because of the growth in the industry. The estimate has been given by the Minister of Tourism, Mr Moore, who said this highlighted training as being one of the biggest challenges if the

industry was to cope with an expected one million visitors a year by 1991. The Government is contributing $545,000 to the Tourist Industry Federation over the next three years to help fund a new tourism training development unit. Mr Moore said the creation of the unit early next year was part of a strategy for the huge

overseas visitor growth forecast by the Tourism Council. The new unit would be a centre for expertise and information for the whole industry, make investigations into training and development, and review present training systems. The new unit would also monitor developments overseas in tourism staff training, he said.

If the industry could not maintain a reputation for quality then the big plus of rapid growth would become a big minus. Rapid growth to a million visitors in 1991 would endanger New Zealand’s image of quality if the human resources the industry needed were not identified and developed, Mr Moore said.