Kesari - HTI Launches Travel Academy

ET&T Staff - Mumbai

In an effort to enhance the tourism offerings, Kesari Tours and the Hospitality Training Institute, recently joined hands to launch the Kesari-HTI Travel Academy.

The event was inaugurated by Gaur Kanjilal, regional director, Indiatourism, Ministry of Tourism, GOI. The Academy offers a one-year job-oriented Diploma in Travel and Tourism Management, with a guaranteed six-month paid internship at Kesari. The eligibility criteria are HSC with conversational skills in English.

Elaborating on the initiative, Veena Patil, director, Kesari Tours said, "Tourism has become more a knowledge-based industry, thanks to the importance on innovativeness in tourism product development and marketing. It is poised for massive growth with new career opportunities in hospitality and tourism. To meet this demand, we need quality personnel that we lack despite a large number of travel and tourism institutes in the country. This is due to a huge gap between the course syllabus and industry requirements, which will now be filled in by the Kesari-HTI Travel Academy."

Dominic Costabir, director of Hospitality Training Institute, said, "From the inception HTI, with its experienced faculty, updated syllabus and job-oriented courses, has been providing trained personnel to the hospitality industry. I am confident that the Kesari-HTI Travel Academy will help aspiring students shape their career in tourism." HTI also offers courses in Hotel Management, Food Production, Bakery, F&B Service, Bartending and Retail Sales Management.

The inauguration was followed by a seminar on ‘Careers in Travel & Hospitality’. The seminar had panelist comprising Neela Lad, assistant director of Indiatourism, Ministry of Tourism, GOI, Edward Chew, area director of Singapore Tourism, Gulu Jagtiani, regional manager (western India), Air Sahara, Rodney D'cruz, sales manager (India) of Delta Airlines, Arun Hattangadi, GM at TCI and Smita Rastogi, head of air-content associates in Abacus Distribution Systems India Pvt Ltd.