Mondul Kiri’s tourism master plan brings hope to boost the hospitality sector in Cambodia

The Cambodian government has officially approved the Mondul Kiri Tourism Development Master Plan for 2021-2035, identifying Mondulkiri as an international eco-tourism destination and a key supplier of agricultural products to meet domestic demands and export. Despite the pandemic, the Tourism Development Master Plan will help create investment opportunities and add value to many sectors that support both the local and national economy. This may allow disadvantaged young men and women and low-skilled workers to gain access to better employment and improve their livelihoods.

Many projects will be implemented following this master plan which includes the development of ecotourism destinations. Training human resources in hospitality and creating awareness among people about tourism’s critical role in economic growth are critical issues. SDP and MoT have prioritized the hospitality training programme to supply experienced and skillful staff to meet the growing demand and to greatly contribute to the achievement of the master plan.

In support of this work, SDP is working closely with the Hospitality Kampuchea (HoKa) Steering Committee of the MoT to facilitate the implementation of the project at the national level and in the target provinces by shifting the training approach from a physical to distance and blended learning. The main activities are developed new trainers and support them to become accredited, to provide technical skills training for hospitality workers and disadvantaged you aspiring to work in this sector, and to build the capacity of owners and managers for business development and provision of decent working conditions.

Hospitality Kampuchea is an industry-based training model. The owners and managers, and the supervisory staff of hotels, guesthouses, resorts, restaurants and cafes wanting to upgrade their in-house training processes support the design of curricula and participate in capacity building facilitated by SDP. It is planned that 1,740 low-skilled workers will benefit from the training programme and 170 hospitality business owners/managers, Provincial Department of Tourism (PDoT) trainers, and industry trainers/assessors will be included in the capacity building activities.

Overall, around 12,000 disadvantaged women and men, low-skilled workers and more than 900 trainers, staff and management of schools and companies will benefit from the second four-year phase of the SDP.