Funded by the Ministry of Tourism and implemented in partnership with the ETF, AMIDEAST has been contracted to provide English language training for more than 100,000 workers in Egypt’s fast-growing tourism industry. The programs will enable hospitality managers, hotel employees, and other frontline tourism workers to communicate more effectively with international tourists and provide better customer service, thereby improving guest satisfaction and ultimately boosting the tourism industry.

Three customized training programs will be developed and delivered in the coming three years. The largest program will involve the training of around 100,000 frontline hotel employees — including front desk, food and beverage, and housekeeping staff in 3- and 4-star hotels throughout Egypt, starting with hotels in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. A second program will provide basic English language training to 3,000 airport officials, taxi drivers, waiters, shopkeepers, and other workers on the tourism frontline dealing with international travelers.

Both programs will focus on improving basic conversational skills in English and development of oral skills related to tourism. Participants will be able to increase their job-specific vocabulary and improve their ability to respond to guest inquiries and requests. Training will also focus on raising awareness of cross-cultural communication issues.

A third program will target hotel executives and managers enrolling for programs offered by the ETF in association with Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. The language development program will build on their already highly proficient English in order to maximize gains from the certified online learning programs offered through eCornell.

Tourism in Egypt has increased from a US$6.1 bn in 2004 to a US$10.9 bn industry in 2008, an increase of nearly 77%, and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism predicts continued growth in the future. Improving the performance of tourism workers and tourism services overall is recognized as key to sustaining this growth. Given the leading role of English in today’s international tourism market, training that equips first-, second-, and third-tier workers in the tourism industry with needed English language proficiency and cross-cultural communication skills is linked to raising the satisfaction of foreign guests and increasing return visits to Egypt.

“Building a pyramid of the best trained and most highly qualified industry professionals throughout the tourism industry is our highest priority,” asserts Minister Garranah, adding “Investing in the skills development and continued education of our workforce is central to elevating the quality of our product, and Egypt’s competitiveness and sustainability as a tourism destination.” Working closely with Minister Garranah on a number of highly budgeted training and development programs, ETF Chairman, Ahmed El Nahas states “training and experience is the crucial to overall success of our tourism products. Providing a wide range of avenues for improvement of English language for the sector could be the key to future success of tourism in Egypt – not only will it provide better service but offer appropriate courteous attention to foreign visitors.”

Eager to get started and contribute to the development of the country’s industry service, AMIDEAST president and CEO Theodore H. Kattouf says, “we welcome this opportunity to contribute to workforce development in Egypt and its critical tourism sector… As we do so, we’re pleased to be able to provide training in communication skills that will increase the job satisfaction of many workers on Egypt’s tourism frontline.”

With the project now underway, the Ministry of Tourism is looking at ways to expand this program to cover not only employees working for tourism specific companies but also for those working in other fields and have direct contact with tourists.