IFT Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training and UNWTO 5th Training Workshop
IFT Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training in collaboration with UNWTO organizes “Capacity Building for Destination Marketing & Tourism Development” Training Programme
From 24 to 31 May, the Institute for Tourism Studies’ (IFT) Global Centre for Tourism Education and Training (hereafter the Centre) in collaboration with UNWTO organized an eight-day training programme entitled “Capacity Building for Destination Marketing & Tourism Development.” This was the fifth edition of the Training Programme. Participants included 19 country representatives from “One Belt, One Road” countries namely Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Islamic Republic of Pakistan China, and Macao, China.
This Training Programme began in 2015 after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNWTO and the Macao SAR Government to enhance the cooperation between the two parties to improve the quality of human capital and increasing the competitiveness of tourism destinations in order to achieve sustainable tourism development. This MoU has helped to establish Macao, China as an international tourism training hub.
The 2018 edition of the training programme included lectures, case studies, sharing of experiences, presentations and site visits. The lectures were delivered by IFT professors and scholars. During the programme, the participants also visited the world heritage sites of the Historic Centre of Macao and attractions in the city to understand the planning and management of tourism facilities in Macao. Additionally, the participants visited MGM COTAI, the newest integrated resort in Macao, where Ms. Frederica Fok, Vice President of Customer Relationship Marketing and Ms. Catarina Lio, Vice President of Brand & Advertising of MGM, delivered a talk on the theme of destination marketing and branding strategies of MGM.
About IFT
Established in 1995, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) offers the most extensive selection of tourism and hospitality related bachelor degree programmes in Macao, and about twenty thousand participants attend its vocational and professional training courses annually. IFT collaborates with 104 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 500 leading tourism and hospitality corporations to offer internship opportunities to its students. Being the first institution accredited by the UNWTO.TedQual Certification System for tourism education, IFT has now 8 bachelor degree programmes with the Certification. Currently, the Institute has the most number of bachelor degree programmes certified under the System of any tertiary education establishment worldwide. In 2017, IFT became the world’s first higher education institution to pass International Quality Review(IQR) from the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). IFT has been highly ranked by QS World University Rankings in the subject area of Hospitality and Leisure Management. In addition, IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and twice won the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Forum Coordinator from UNWTO
