Swiss Institute amongst global finalists at World Tourism Forum

The Swiss Institute team  at the World  Tourism Forum. From left: Heiko Rosenbohm,  Dr. Rohith Delikhan  and William Delikhan

The World Tourism Forum is the leading interactive platform in the industry, where CEOs, ministers, academia, finance, start-ups, the next generation and young talents gather to address the future challenges of travel, tourism and hospitality industry with the aim of shaping a more sustainable future.
This year, on the 4th May, 500 participants from 75 countries includingseveral major players in the tourism industry and government leaders metto discuss the challenges and new trends in global tourism and travel at the World Tourism Forum (WTF) 2017, held in Lucerne, Switzerland. The world faces a doubling of travelers by 2030. 
The mainfocus of the forum was concentrated on the innovation, talents and the sustainable development of the industry. A key item on the agenda was selecting and awarding the most innovative and creative business ideas in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry presented by startups.
Vying for this prestigious award and gaining the honour of being selected amongst the final four out of 170 nominees, was the Sri Lankan start up Swiss Institute, founded by a group of Swiss and Sri Lankan entrepreneurs and partnered with the Swiss Hospitality School Lucerne (SHL) and the Swiss Banking Advisory Academy BBZ in St. Gallen. Swiss Institute has now graduated to become an innovative member of the World Tourism Forum and will participate at future Forum events to contribute towards shaping the industry.
With an international vision and ambition to create a significant impact in the country, Swiss Institute demonstrated at the forum, their key missions and projects undertaken to reposition the hospitality and tourism industry in Sri Lanka and create genuine economic benefit for all participants in tourism. 
These comprised of  working with employers and students to develop the right skills in being more efficient and customer-centric, giving students an affordable quality education and a portable and prestigious Swiss certification along with a job guarantee,as well as offering training in best practices  for  the tourism and  hospitality  industry in Sri Lanka.  
Speaking of their achievement in gaining this recognition, Dr. Rohith Delikhan, CEO of Swiss Institute said, “Innovation and technologies are transforming the world’s tourism sector, but Sri Lanka has lagged far behind in this area. Our purpose therefore is to work on creating new avenues for tourism growth and close this gap in the industry in the country. We intend to be the number one training and development partner for the industry in Sri Lanka. 
We currently offer certificate and diploma level programmes in food and beverages, reception, house keeping, kitchen services, butler and concierge, supervisory skills excellence and relationship management.“