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The Academy builds a bright future for Lao tourism TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY SKILLS FOR TOURISM PROJECT (LAO/029)
MORE INFO The Academy Training Hotel & Restaurant, Vang Vieng tel.: +856 30 522 1052, email: theacademytraining hotel@gmail.com facebook: @TheAcademy. VangVieng
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he Academy Training Hotel and Restaurant is part of Vientiane Province Technical College, offering students of tourism and hospitality programs a unique practical training environment in the heart of beautiful Vang Vieng. Staffed by students, these budding young professionals are overseen by their teachers and an international management team while developing their core skills and
preparing to enter the workforce. Developed to provide a "real-world" hotel environment, The Academy provides students with a unique practical training opportunity by interacting and working with actual restaurant and/or hotel customers. Students are prepared to become future hospitality workers, providing the industry with a cohort of well-trained, enthusiastic graduates. At the close of the 2020–2021 academic year, 99 students graduated from the tourism and hospitality programs. The aspiring young professionals graduated from three different majors, namely Travel Agency and Tour Operations, Hotel Operations, and Restaurant Operations. Depending on their chosen major, students gained specific practical insights at The