Sri Lanka's Jetwing Hotels will receive the 2016 PATA Grand Award for Education and Training for its ‘A Journey of Hope and Progress - The Jetwing Youth Development Project’ at the awards ceremony in Indonesia on September 9, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced.

PATA Grand Awards are presented to outstanding entries in four principal categories: marketing; education and training; environment, and heritage and culture. The Grand and Gold Awards scheme is supported and sponsored by the Macao Government Tourism Office.

The Jetwing Youth Development Project is designed to empower rural youth who are underprivileged and do not enjoy the opportunities  for higher education or meaningful career prospects. Providing free training to school leavers from disadvantaged families in locations of Jetwing Hotels around the country, the program offers both practical and theoretical training to prepare them for a career in the travel and tourism industry. 

The program allows them to acquire suitable employment within Jetwing Hotels as well as creating equal opportunities for them to find employment elsewhere. As well as providing them with life skills, they also gain valuable exposure to communities beyond their village helping towards positive cultural integration, PATA said.

(The Standard - Hong Kong)