BOI signs up for hospitality academy, apartment complex

The Board of Investments (BOI) signed two agreements for over US$ 5.4 million to construct service apartments and also to set up a Hospitality Academy in Colombo. ARC Estate (Private) Limited will invest US$ 5.17 million to construct a service apartment complex at Horton Place, Colombo 7.

The project will provide employment for 100 staff. The other project signed by the BOI was with The Australian Academy of Hospitality (AAH) which will set up Australian Academy of Hospitality in Alexandra Place, Colombo 7, in partnership with Evolution Hospitality Institute in Sydney, Australia.

This is to provide higher education and training opportunities for Sri Lankan Students.

The investment will be US$ 279,000. AAH provides quality programs from Certificate level to Advanced Diploma in Hospitality Management on a mirror model in collaboration.

‘Earn as you Learn – Paid Internships’, while studying internships are an integral part of all hospitality management programs offered at AAH. Leading hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka and overseas are partnered with AAH to provide paid internships which will make the students employable by the time they graduate. It was also pointed out that the total contribution from Hospitality, Travel and Tourism to GDP was 11.6% in 2017. It is expected to grow to Rs.1,595.5 billion or 11.7% of GDP in 2018. It is forecasts to rise 5.5% per annum to LKR 2,718.1 billion (12.3% of GDP) by 2028.

The industry generated 404,000 jobs directly in 2017 (5.1% of total employment). It is forecast to rise to 1 million jobs in 2028 (12.8% of total employments).

Kelum de Silva, Managing Director of AAH said; “What led to our starting this project was that while tourism arrivals have kept increasingly consistently the skill gaps for the staff in the industry was also growing.”

“Australia has world renowned institutions in vocational training so this is the reason why we partnered with this Australian Institute,” he added.

“We were able to partner with hotels in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Australia.”