IHG Signs Three New Academies in China

InterContinental Hotels Group has signed three new Academies in China.

The three colleges, each of which has strong tourism and hospitality management programmes, are Tianjin Vocational Institute, Guangzhou City Construction College and the Shenzhen Polytechnic.

With 150 hotels currently open in China, IHG is one of China's biggest employers in the hotel industry with 52,000 employees. The company also plans to double its presence with another 150 hotels, requiring an additional 90,000 employees, in the next five years.

The first IHG Academy was established in June 2006 in Shanghai to address the huge demand for trained talents in China's rapidly growing hospitality industry. The IHG Academy has quickly expanded across China since then, continuously attracting young people dedicated to pursuing their career in China's burgeoning hospitality industry.

Each IHG Academy works with a local tourism college or vocational institution to offer theoretical sessions by university faculty members, industry lectures by senior IHG executives and hands-on internships. Every year, the IHG Academies collectively produce more than 5,000 experienced graduates ready to enter the hospitality industry.

"We believe that attracting, training and retaining qualified talents is crucial to our success. It is our working staff who make us stand out from competitions and delivers our brand promises. As the industry leader, we are responsible and committed to investing in and nurturing local talents. This is not just for IHG, but for the sustained and greater prosperity of the hospitality industry as a whole," said Winnie Ng, vice president, Human Resources, IHG Greater China.

China is developing rapidly, which naturally leads to a greater demand for hospitality talents. Greater China will become the world's No.1 inbound tourist destination by 2015, with an estimated 183 million overnight stays. Meanwhile, China recorded more than 1.9 billion domestic tourist-trips in 2010, and that number is expected to grow in 2011 and beyond. 

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