Home News & Features ITP Youth Program Wins Tourism 4 Tomorrow People Award

ITP Youth Program Wins Tourism 4 Tomorrow People Award

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DALLAS—ITP (International Tourism Partnership) announced that its employability program the Youth Career Initiative (YCI) has won the People category at the WTTC Tourism 4 Tomorrow Awards in Dallas.

Accepting the Award at the WTTC Global Summit, Head of YCI Alberto Canovas said, “On behalf of a very large number of organizations and people across the globe who have made the Youth Career Initiative possible, from hotel partners and nonprofit partners, to our donors and last but not least, our small yet very passionate and dedicated team, I would like to give my sincerest and heartfelt thanks to WTTC and the judging panel for bestowing such a prestigious accolade onto YCI.

“I would also like to give a very special thanks to the hotel companies that we partner with such as Marriott, IHG, Hilton, Carlson Rezidor, Hyatt, Four Seasons and Starwood, through their association with the International Tourism Partnership, because without their support, commitment and contributions from their corporate and local teams, YCI would simply not be possible,” Canovas added. “I would like to dedicate this award to our students and graduates who have seen their lives transformed for the better and who through YCI have been able to kick-start their careers through legitimate and decent employment both within and outside hospitality—their success is our success.”

Program Has 85 Percent Success Rate

YCI is a six-month education and employability program offered to unemployed youth with limited socio-economic opportunities in 19 countries across five continents. YCI works with young people who are unlikely to have a viable route into legitimate employment or be able to improve their situation without external help. The program provides students with transferable life and work skills that improve their employment opportunities, as well as empowering them to make informed career choices and positive life decisions. It has an 85 percent success rate of graduates moving on to employment or further education.

YCI also supports survivors of human trafficking by helping them to become more independent and secure as they regain control of their lives.

ITP works with its member hotel companies to identify key issues for the industry to address, and global youth unemployment has been targeted for over 10 years. YCI was created to bridge the gap between hotels battling a lack of skilled talent to recruit, against the high percentage of unemployed young people in many countries around the world, and to empower unemployed young people to build careers and make positive life choices.

ITP Director Fran Hughes said, “We’re immensely proud that YCI has been recognized by the tourism industry with this prestigious award. It’s a fantastic endorsement for our employability program and our many years of work with our members and partners around the world helping so many young people improve their opportunities. We have ambitious plans for the growth of YCI over the coming years, thanks to the generous support of our funders, and we hope that this recognition will underpin those plans, allowing us to bring YCI to thousands more young people, in several more countries.”

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