Jobs for 4,500 Saudis under Takamul employment program, HRDF

RIYADH: A total of 4,500 Saudis were employed at 80 tourism facilities under the “Training Ends with Employment” program jointly executed by the National Center for Tourism Human Resources Development (Takamul), the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) and the National System for Joint Training.
“The facilities that are expected to participate under the program in 2016 amount to 100 companies and the number of jobs is expected to stand at 3,125,” said Mohammad Al-Dehaim, human resources adviser at Takamul.
Al-Dehaim made this comment in a working paper presented at a workshop on “integration of regional tourism development,” recently organized by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH).
Al-Dehaim added that studies made by the Tourism Information and Research Center, the statistical arm of the SCTNH, indicated that direct and indirect jobs in the tourism sector, until the end of 2015, stood at 1.2 million, which is expected to rise to 1.7 million by the end of 2020.
Takamul is working to integrate and standardize tourism education and training programs and evolve training outputs, improving tourism education and the training environment. The center is working in collaboration with specialized authorities, and public and private sector partners including national and international training firms specialized in setting up professional standards and training portfolios for tourism, travel and entertainment professions.
The tourism sector occupies second rank among economic sectors in terms of Saudization, with about 30 percent of citizens engaged for rehabilitation and employment to run and manage tourism facilities.