The Hotel, Catering and Tourism Institute (HOTCATT) under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, yesterday held its maiden graduation ceremony at its school premises in Accra.
The graduation is the first after nine (9) years of inactivity on the theme; ‘’Dream big, start small, act now ‘’ that saw forty-four (44) trainees completing diverse courses in the Tourism, Arts and Culture discipline.
Ms. Patrina Etu-Mantey Ampah, Director of the training institute, walked participants and graduands through the (HOTCATT) journey.
According to her, HOTCAT was established in 1991 and mandated to provide skills at the basic intermediate and supervision levels to help upgrade the skills and competences of all personnel in the hotel, catering and tourism sector, to transform Ghana into a competitive tourism destination.
“After being defunct for nine years, due to diverse constraints, the institute reopened in 2020 under my leadership and this is our success story” she opined.
Ms. Etu–Mantey Ampah urged the graduands to set big goals and explore big ideas to establish big projects. She advised them not to fear to start small adding “starting small is not a failure” referring graduands to the popular saying “Rome was not built in a day’’ to spur them on.
She however urged the trainees not to procrastinate but act fast to contribute their quota in developing the sector.
Mr. Vitus Otto Langmagne, Director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and culture who chaired the ceremony, urged graduands to use their new expertise to change the phase of the hospitality industry.
He however, assured graduands of the Ministry’s continue support as projected by the sector Minister, Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Awal and discouraged them not to nature the mindset that government will employ them after school but endeavor to start their own business to create employment opportunities for the youth.
Out of the 44 graduands who rolled out yesterday by the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Institute (HOTCATT), sixteen students comprising five males and eleven females graduated with certificates in Kitchen skills, nine students comprising two males and seven females with front desk office skills.
The others are housekeeping, food and beverage services, tour guiding skills, and certificate in banqueting, conference and event management.
