Abdullah Al-Washeel, director general of the National Project for Tourism Human Resources Development (Takamul) at the SCTA, said the program would be implemented in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam in the next three years.
“The SCTA in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor is currently working out the modalities of the program. Under the program, Saudi employees will get a minimum salary of SR4,000. The issuance of a license for furnished apartments or its renewal will be linked to the Saudization of receptionists and accountants,” he said.
Al-Washeel said each furnished apartment must employ a minimum of three Saudis and their number should be increased accordingly if the number of apartments rises.
“There are 60 Saudi youths who have completed a relevant training course. We have employed them on an experimental basis at furnished apartments in Riyadh. We will expand this experiment to Jeddah and Dammam before we roll the program out throughout the Kingdom if it is a success,” he said.
Al-Washeel disclosed the recruitment of foreign workers would also be linked to the Saudization of receptionists and accountants.
“We are working on the program in coordination with our partners in the public and private sectors,” he said.
According to the official, furnished apartments are a vital and significant sector that can make available thousands of jobs for Saudis. He drew attention to a study carried out by SCTA’s Tourism Information and Research Center that revealed furnished apartments represent 74.8 percent of tourism accommodation in the Kingdom. “This vital sector can generate around 10,000 job opportunities for receptionists and accountants alone. Most other professions in this sector are in the service category and they cannot be Saudized, at least for the time being,” the study noted.
Al-Washeel noted the SCTA has launched a specialized training program to develop national talent to enable them to manage furnished apartment units. This was in cooperation with SCTA’s partners — the Ministry of Labor, the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, Human Resources Development Fund, National System for Joint Training and the National Tourism and Hospitality Institute for Training.
The commission managed to introduce one of the best training programs to enable young Saudi jobseekers to take up these challenging careers. The program focused on improving the general skills of the trainees in the fields of hospitality, English language and computer literacy in addition to various specialisms such as the tourism and hotel management, operation of furnished apartments and skills needed to serve guests.
Al-Washeel said the first batch of 43 trainees graduated in September this year after completing a 26-week course focusing on various aspects of the receptionist and accountant professions. The trainees had undergone a nine-week practical training at various furnished apartments in the capital city.
“The SCTA, in cooperation with its partners in the public and private sectors, is now working on finding them suitable placements without delay,” he said, while urging investors in the sector to cooperate fully with the SCTA to implement its directives with regard to Saudization.
