As a 'new' country, Timor Leste (which is also known as East Timor) has been challenged to develop its fledging hotel and tourism industries, and this has been particularly problematic in rural areas. The third and final phase of the AusAid (Australian government funded aid) tourism consultancy project in Timor Leste was recently completed by a team from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts (HTCA). Led by the School's Associate Dean International (ADI), Dr Frederic Bouchon, it concludes a 6-month programme in human resource tourism development and private sector capacity building in Timor Leste. The third-phase involved twenty participants in various hospitality and tourism operations in locations, such as the Balibo Fort Hotel. The project received nationwide media attention, and was written up in Timor Leste main newspaper the Tempo Timor, and several ministers visited the premises and have commented on the impact that the training has made on improving service quality and delivery.
Dr Bouchon observed that "This hotel is very much a pioneer and setting the trends in this region,” he explained. “Beyond Dili there’s not many hotels that have this standard so the big challenge was to have staff that were able to operate and to maintain the quality”. The positive results of this transformational programme, validated by the customer-feedback, has shown that satisfaction-rate with the tourism standards in Timor Leste that have adopted the training is now increasing. The programme ended with a Closing Ceremony in which the participants 'graduated' from the programme. This international human resource development programme complements the work that the School has been doing in its public-private partnership project in Malaysia with the Community College in Langkawi. To learn more about the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts please visit Taylor's official website.