RIYADH, 22 August 2006 — A group of 250 Saudis will be soon undergoing an extensive six-month training program to qualify them to become travel agent clerks in the private sector.
According to Turki Al Remali, general manager of the Management Training Center (MTC), this is the first batch to undergo such a training program and will be followed by other groups in the near future according to private sector’s need to employ Saudis.
“This number has been screened from over 1,500 applicants who had applied for jobs in the aviation field,” he said. The training program is divided into two parts: The first being an extensive three month program in English related to the field, the other being three months of travel agency learning.
Asked about the benefits a Saudi employee would receive when working as a travel agent clerk, Al Remali said his salary would be around SR3,500, not including the commission he gets from ticket sales. “His family would also get free tickets once a year,” he added.
He said that currently the travel agencies that have approached MTC for workers were not requesting college graduates but high school graduates.
MTC is currently training Saudis in various fields, such as management, communications, public relations, developing skills, creative thinking and brainstorming as well as other fields. The agency is non-governmental and receives its trainees based on a mutual agreement with the Human Resource Development Fund and the Ministry of Labor, in addition to clients from the private sector.
Al Remali said according to the law, 75 percent of the training costs are paid by HRDC and 25 percent by the client.
