JS Algarve criticizes the decision taken by Turismo de Portugal to reduce by 42% the training offer of the Hotel and Tourism Schools under its supervision.
According to the young socialists, this decision implies the «non-opening of training offer at the Schools of Portimão and Vila Real de Santo António for the 2013-2014 school year, maintaining the training offer at the School of Faro, headquarters of the Algarve Group».
Giving as an example the impact of the decision in the Barlavento Algarvio, where around 66% of the region's tourist revenues are generated, JS points out that «students in Education and Training Courses (CEF) who finished 9th grade this year in Ministry of Education schools will have at their disposal only two CEF classes and some courses taught by the IEFP, a situation that leaves many students who seek to continue their training in this area unresolved».
JS Algarve considers that the «IEFP, whose offer will not absorb all the candidates, does not have the “know how”, the organizational culture or the technical capacity installed to provide training in the tourist and hotel areas, therefore they are not an alternative to training in quality that has been ensured by the EHT'.
«The Algarve region, anchor of the Tourism Sector, and its employers, will suffer from the lack of properly qualified labor, which will bring losses in terms of the quality of the offer, as well as the revenue of a sector vertebral for the region and for the country, whose activity has a significant weight in the level of wealth production», stresses JS.
The Algarve Socialist Youth concludes that «this is a wrong decision by Turismo de Portugal, which sees the deficit in the sustainability of Hotel and Tourism Schools as a cost and not as an investment in education and training, in a sector that should be seen as one of the main weapons to attack the scourge of unemployment and seasonality of employment in the region, so it needs a quality professional education network, capable of meeting its training needs».
Despite assertions of the future will of the Portuguese Tourism Board, JS Algarve considers that, «when starting a process of activity reduction like the one we are witnessing, it could indicate a slow process of closing down the EHTs».
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