The Department of Tourism yesterday awarded the second batch of skills development grants to a new set of tourism companies and associations.

Twenty two local organizations will receive a combined total of USD437,000 (PHP19,670,899.5*) under the Tourism Industry Skills Grant Scheme, part of the USD7.1 million technical assistance by the Canadian government to the Philippines to support the inclusive growth and employment generation in tourism.

The assistance program is administered by the Asian Development Bank and was launched in 2013 to fund skills development and the government’s hotel accreditation program, among others.

Last year, the skills grant scheme awarded a combined total of USD821,000 to 25 tourism enterprises that implemented training programs for 5,000 workers. Done in four pilot areas, namely Bohol, Cebu, Davao, and Palawan, training covered customer care, front office, housekeeping, F&B, culinary, food hygiene and safety, and tour guiding.

The new set of grantees were selected from 80 applications, all of which went through an evaluation by regional and national tourism skills committees.

Rolando Canizal, DOT assistant secretary, said applications were judged based on training needs assessment and the anticipated outcomes of the applicant’s proposed training program.

*USD1 = PHP45.01