Greater Bay Area Main Headline

IFTM sets up training centre in Shunde as part of push to promote tourism education in Greater Bay Area

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

IFTM has just established a new training centre in Guangdong Province, this time in the Shunde District of the city of Foshan. The centre is the latest extension of the IFTM Tourism Education and Training Base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The new centre is officially titled IFTM Tourism Education and Training Base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Shunde Collaboration Centre), with Shunde Polytechnic as the host institution. A ceremony to mark the launch was held on 9 April.

The Shunde Collaboration Centre is a partnership between the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shunde District, Foshan City, IFTM and Shunde Polytechnic. The 3 bodies had signed on 11 March an agreement with a view to the centre’s creation, taking advantage of Macao’s extensive experience in tourism education and training, and with the aim of better integrating the tourism education resources available within the Greater Bay Area.

The new centre aims to boost synergies between Macao and Shunde regarding higher education in tourism, and to promote training which is of international calibre. The centre offers educational programmes to help develop tourism in the Greater Bay Area, by enhancing the qualifications and skills of people working in the field, and by arranging exchange activities. Another goal is to promote the development of vocational training standards.

As Macao and Shunde are both famed for their delicacies, the centre will additionally promote cooperation regarding Cantonese and Macanese cuisine. The 2 cities are expected to bolster overall exchanges in the field of gastronomy via the centre: both Macao and Shunde are part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of gastronomy.

One of the first programmes to be hosted by the Shunde Collaboration Centre was a train-the-trainer course in relation to the role of hospitality industry front desk agents, using as reference IFTM’s Macao Occupational Skills Recognition System (MORS). The opening ceremony for the course was held also on 9 April, and participants included professionals from higher education and vocational training institutes in Foshan, as well as executives from various well-known hotels and tourism enterprises.

IFTM is assuming a significant role in assisting the development of the Greater Bay Area, by helping the tourism and hospitality industry in the city cluster to thrive. A milestone for the Institute in that regard took place in 2019, when the Mainland authorities approved IFTM – as the relying unit of the Macao SAR Government – as the Tourism Education and Training Base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Since then, several extensions of the Macao Tourism Education and Training Base have been set up in Guangdong Province, including in Zhuhai, Hengqin and in Guangzhou. The IFTM Tourism Education Collaboration Centre for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was set up in 2019 on Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, as a partnership between IFTM, the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Zhuhai Municipality, and Zhuhai Municipal Zhu Kuan Group Holdings Co., Ltd.

The IFTM Hengqin Training Base was established also in 2019, following a framework agreement on cooperation between IFTM and the Hengqin New District Management Committee, in Zhuhai.

In February this year, IFTM, along with the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, and Guangzhou Lingnan International Enterprise Group Co Ltd, combined efforts to establish a training centre in Guangzhou. It preceded the launch of the Shunde Collaboration Centre: the Guangzhou centre aims to boost the integration of educational resources available in the Greater Bay Area in the fields of hospitality, tourism, food and beverage services, as well as conventions and events, in order to enhance the overall development of Macao and Guangzhou.