Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

In accordance with Bhutanese development priorities the tourism sector will be strengthened to provide job opportunities to the youth and to increase high-quality - low-impact tourism and thereby foreign revenues.

The Royal Institute for Tourism and Hospitality, RITH, presents a strategic investment in this regard. The RITH serves as the first Bhutanese training institute in compliance with international standards.

While the RGoBhutan takes up the substantial part of the construction costs, Austria contributes state-of-the-art technical equipment for the affiliated Training Hotel; high quality energy efficient management and energy saving components for heating, hot water and waste water management, ventilation for restaurant and kitchen areas, heavy duty fittings and plumbing in wet rooms, insulation, life safety equipment and wherever necessary facilities for the disabled.

Since beginning in 2005 circumstances and costs of this ambitious project have changed substantially. Both the ADC and the RGoBhutan have agreed to the cost sharing of additional costs in this final phase of the project.

The main expected results are the completion of works in the training hotel, provision of appropriate as per design fixed furniture and accessibility by road as well as continuation of technical assistance for the project implementation, monitoring, supervision of the construction and commissioning. Furthermore completion of rectification works of the sewage treatment and water treatment plant.

The target group are the students of the RITH who are offered vocational education and professional training in tourism management. The final beneficiaries are visitors to Bhutan, relying on quality services offered by the Bhutanese hospitality industry.

A complementary project provides technical assistance to the RITH to develop and adopt curricula matching international standards. To date almost 100 students, half of them young women, have completed their studies in RITH.