Pacific Tourism School in Rakiraki

18/05/2010

The Australia-Pacific Technical College (APTC) has opened its tourism and hospitality operations within the Tanoa Rakiraki Hotel.

The Rakiraki Hotel tourism facility is a partnership between the Tanoa Group and APTC.
 
Mr Jim Urwin is APTC’s country manager in Fiji for the the School of Tourism and Hospitality. Mr Urwin says although APTC has campuses in the region namely Vanuatu, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, the Fiji campuses provides training for students from around the Pacific region.
 
Mr Urwin: “This Tanoa Rakiraki Hotel school is specifically for students from Fiji other than Namaka where we have our main campus and for students from other Forum-member countries. At the moment there are 33 students from seven countries and all those students are on full scholarship.”
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Caption 1: (L-R) Tanoa Group CEO Mr Gordon Wilson, Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and Fiji country manager for APTC’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Mr Jim Urwin.

Headquartered in Fiji, the APTC is an Australian government-funded programme through AUSaid. It commenced operations mid-2007, initially for four years. Further funding has enabled APTC to continue educational services for another four years. Apart from the tourism and hospitality school, APTC also operates and the School of Health and Community Services. 
 
The scholarship offered to successful applicants provides the student recipient travel from home country to Fiji and thereon to Rakiraki Hotel where the student is “accommodated, trained, and fed. What we get out of that is marvelous performance and seeing students develop their skills and knowledge and building their passion for the industry.”
 
Upon graduation, an APTC-trained student is qualified with an Australian certificate three or four level.

The Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said it was “quite exciting for this part of the Fiji to have this type of institute. It’s wonderful to have students living in Rakiraki attending this course. It serves a very good partnership between APTC and the Tanoa Group. We encourage this types of partnerships.”
 
Background on the partnership: The CEO of the Tanoa Group of Hotels, Mr Gordon Wilson, in a previous employment in Kenya, Africa, saw a model of a small regional hotel that had potential to be converted into a residential hotel school. Residing now in Fiji, Mr Wilson observed similarities to the Tanoa Rakiraki Hotel.
 
What were those similarities? It’s removed from other hotels, it’s regional, out of town, and has dormitory-style accommodation.
 
Mr Urwin reflects that the first thought was that Rakiraki Hotel was an ideal establishment to accommodate the APTC-Tanoa Group regional tourism school for Pacific and Fiji students.
 
The Tanoa Group has invested funds into refurbishing the hotel’s training kitchen, classroom, and restaurant. The live-in students put into practice their acquired skill on hotel guests on a daily basis.

Individuals interested in attending an APTC school in Fiji (Namaka or Rakiraki) can visit their web portal http://www.aptc.edu.au or visit APTC offices in Namaka, Suva, or Rakiraki.
 
Mr Urwin says the tourism industry in Fiji is very mature compared to the rest of the Pacific and “we don’t believe we’re doing a better job than anyone else. We just believe there’s always room for continuous improvement and we’re really pleased being here playing a small part in that continuous improvement.”