The Fiji Marriot Academy has become an important vehicle for Marriott International Fiji to create a workforce that can cater for the influx of tourists into the country.
Speaking at the graduation of 60 new graduates, Marriott International Fiji multi property VP Neeraj Chada said while the school started as a concept to fill the void created by COVID-19, it had now turned into a vital resource for trained workers post-pandemic.
“We at the time during the pandemic had a conversation with the Tui Nadi and had asked them to sponsor a bus to bring in the trainees and of course it was unpaid at that time,” he said.
“For the very first batch there were over 350 people that had applied. We didn’t have the capacity to handle all 350 in one go but approximately 30 had joined us and over 300 graduated.
“That gave us a lot of confidence in seeing people who were willing to spend their time to learn about the industry and to grow their careers. So continued with … and we did not want to make it just a pandemic event.”
He said following the pandemic, the academy became a vital source of human resource once the borders reopened.
“The industry opened and it opened with such fierce return of people from overseas that the industry was found grappling which meant we did not have enough resources to manage the amount of business volume that was coming our way.
“The Fiji Marriott Academy became a strategic initiative for Marriot International Hotels located in Fiji to deliver the qualified people to join the hospitality industry.”
He said the academy took in locals eager to learn about the service industry but did not have the financial capacity to do so.
“For us we wanted to deliver two things, the first one was to look at people who do not have typically the high tertiary training in the industry.
“The second was to also look at people who want to make a career in the service industry but may not have any form of training or experience to join the industry.”
He said the academy had become a way to bring these people into the hospitality industry.
