The Prince Sultan College for Tourism celebrated Monday the graduation of 70 diploma and bachelor degree students majoring in tourism, hospitality and travel management. The students are entering the job market at a time when there is a great need for people with their education, said Tawfiq Al-Nahdi, a faculty member and the school's diploma program supervisor. “The demand is higher than the supply, which indicates that job opportunities in the field are largely available,” said Al-Nahdi, who estimated that in the near future, there will be more than 20,000 hotel jobs available for Saudis. In cooperation with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and with the support of the Human Resources Fund, the college has specialized diploma programs in travel, tourism and other fields, he added. “Our instructors have the highest degrees obtained from in and outside the country,” Al-Nahdi said. The school has created a hotel management program that comprises front office management, party planning, cooking and accounting. “We have also struck contracts with the world's biggest hotels to train and then employ more than 100 of our students, Al-Nahdi said. “The students, financially supported by the Charity Fund, work part-time and they are registered as private-sector employees. Recently, we signed a contract with the Hilton in Dubai to train 3,000 graduates of different majors, who will be trained in Jeddah and employed all over the Kingdom.” Prince Sultan College made it easy to find qualified trainees that were ready for the job market, said Hani Al-Tuaimi, Director of Administrative Affairs at National Air Services. “In the past we would suffer from a shortage of Saudis qualified for the field, given the lack of training centers.” Muhsin Al-Attas, the college's employment supervisor, said earlier there were not enough Saudis eligible for work in hospitality and travel fields because of a lack of training, which includes proficiency in English language. “Now we have qualified Saudis in all majors,” he said. “Many young people have come to us to be trained as chefs or room service employees. Getting these positions would be considered a chance for them to eventually reach higher positions.” Bassel Ahmad, a former student who is now a “proud” reservation officer, said he loved the field and felt he would “do great” in it. “I was trained as a reservation officer,” he said. “The only difficulty I faced was English, but that was only at the beginning and now I managed to overcome it.” Another graduate with the same major, Abdulrahman Al-Juhani, said the training program took two years “in which I had no problems. They were enjoyable.” Adnan Bawazeer, Abdulaziz Al-Koushi and Mesh'al Al-Malki, travel and tourism graduates, said the field is developing in the country and Saudis have a chance to occupy the many jobs available. “I advise my colleagues to be punctual and committed,” said Bawazeer. __
