A tourism academy offering hands-on experience for students will open on Singapore’s island resort, Sentosa in 2005.

The Sentosa Leisure Group (formerly known as Sentosa Development Corporation) has joined forces with Temasek Polytechnic to create the academy, which will have a joint campus at the polytechnic in Tampines and on Sentosa – a 500 hectare tourist destination.

500 students will be admitted onto the three-year diploma course, with students based on Sentosa in year two. A six-month placement in one of the island’s leisure businesses which includes hotels, spas, restaurants, golf clubs, sports’ facilities, museums and a theme park will give students hands on experience of working in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sector.

The full and part-time diploma course will be conducted by Tamasek Polytechnic’s hospitality and tourism education division and will include a mixture of workshops, seminars and hands-on experience.

“It is Tamasek Polytechnic’s mission to connect with the industry and the academy presents an excellent opportunity to help the regional hospitality and tourism industry grow and be amongst the world’s best” says the polytechnic’s Principal Mr Boo Kheng Hua.

“The focus of the academy, on providing continuing education for the industry and opening its doors to international students, will help Singapore fulfil its aim of becoming the region’s educational hub.”

Sentosa Leisure Group, which is overseeing an (S) $8bn revamp of Sentosa, believes that the standard of service in Singapore’s tourism industry will be improved by the creation of the academy. Sentosa Leisure Group’s CEO Darrell Metzger says:

“The Tourism Academy will be a fundamental step in our efforts to develop a high service benchmark for the [leisure and hospitality] industry in Singapore and the region.”

Currently, 18 million people are employed in the tourism industry in Southeast Asia, 140,000 of which are employed in Singapore. With a forecast growth of 7% over the next ten years in regional tourism demand, Southeast Asia will see an annual increase of 4% in employment. In Singapore, a growth of 7% in new jobs is expected.

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