Some of this island’s secondary school students got an insight into Barbados’ number one foreign exchange earner today when Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy, gave a ‘pep’ talk on the tourism industry at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

Under the theme “Tourism in a Nutshell”, Minister Sealy sought to shed some light on the important role of the Ministry of Tourism, as well as encourage those present to explore areas of employment in the industry.

Noting that when he was their age he didn’t have guidance about the career opportunities available in the tourism and hospitality sector, the Minister told the gathering that previously the Ministry hosted workshops for primary and secondary school teachers. This was designed to incorporate tourism into the geography and social studies syllabi.

He pointed out that his Ministry was also responsible for a number of initiatives aimed at targeting those youth in pursuing tourism as a career. 

“Realising that tourism is competing with other subject areas, officers of the Ministry have sought to be creative in assisting teachers with the teaching of tourism. This was due to the Ministry’s recognition that the overall sustainability of Barbados’ tourism industry requires the involvement of the youth, the future leaders of tomorrow,” he observed.

Some of those initiatives include the “Adopt-a-School Programme”, where the Parkinson Memorial Secondary was the first school adopted by the Ministry; local and regional competitions, which the Ministry co-ordinates for ‘The National Geographic Traveler Youth Photo Contest’; and the FCCA Environment and Essay Competition’ for Barbadian students at the primary and secondary level, as well as the Junior Minister of Tourism.

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