BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, 23rd February, 2011 - Seven (7) hotel workers, five from St. Kitts and two from Nevis, have been certified by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute, as Guestroom Attendants.
The successful employees from various hotel properties in the Federation are as follows: Viola C. Sprouse, Lynette E. Warner, Sonia A. Henry, Kishma N. Freeman, Gale C. Halliday, Yvonne M. Herbert and Rosetta L. Merchant.
This most valuable qualification now enables the successful employees to not only work at any property within the Federation, but also at properties throughout the region, the hemisphere and the world at large.
A special ceremony has been scheduled for Thursday, February 24, 2011, at the Frigate Bay Resort conference room, commencing at 3:00 pm. OAS Representative Mr. Starret Greene, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Mrs. Rosecita Jeffers, Head of the Human Resource Department of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Ms. Novelette Morton, and key stakeholders from the Hospitality and Tourism sector will officiate at the presentation ceremony.
The certification process is the end product of a training workshop, sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), through its Special Multilateral Fund of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (FEMCIDI). The workshop, held in November 2010, was convened especially for Guestroom Attendants in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and was a direct output of a regional project entitled “Capacity Building: Tourism Training and Certification.
Speaking from his office at Fortlands, OAS Representative Mr. Starret Greene said that the OAS, through FEMCIDI, would continue to help the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis build its human resource capacity, within the hospitality and tourism industry, so that workers within the sector would become fully qualified, and then be positioned to offer the kind of service to visitors that meets international standards.
Mr. Greene said that the certification of workers in the tourism sector is critical to its modernization, growth and sustainability. “Investing in human development is the key to the Federation’s continued advancement”, the OAS Representative concluded.
The properties that sent workers to the workshop included Timothy Beach Resort, Sea lofts, Hermitage Plantation Inn, Frigate Bay Resort, Sugar Bay Club and Qualie Beach Hotel.
