Above: Charlestown, Nevis (Photo: Caribbean Journal)

The federation of St Kitts and Nevis is sending 16 nationals to Taiwan to begin courses at the country’s National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism.

The students will be focusing on restaurant management, tourism marketing, hotel management and casino management, among other fields, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas told participants at St Kitts’ National Information Technology Center earlier this week.

Douglas visited the university during a one-week official visit to Taiwan in March of this year.

“I immediately saw the opportunity for the young people this country to benefit from training,” Douglas said. “I engaged the principal and president of the university and in our discussions were able to put together a program specifically designed to teach a number of skills and to improve [the] knowledge base in the area of the hospitality industry.”

The students will begin their training next week. “Since the closure of the sugar industry, our economy depends heavily on our people’s ability to become educated in this field,” said Jameilah Johnson, speaking on behalf of the participants. “An opportunity such as this will ensure we are well equipped with knowledge and skills needed to further develop our products as a whole.”

The federation is no stranger to high-level tourism training, beginning with Four Seasons founder Isadore Sharp’s effort to train Nevisians in high-level hospitality performance when the company entered Nevis twenty years ago, something he discussed with Caribbean Journal in an interview this week.