GULF SHORES – Alabama will provide $1 million to prepare as many as 2,000 students to join the state’s $16-billion hospitality industry, Gov. Kay Ivey announced Wednesday, Jan. 6.
Leaders requested the funds, citing a shortage of new employees entering the workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago.
Ivey said state tourism rebounded by 25 percent in 2021 over the previous year when the spread of virus hit the international travel. Students will be able to train online through the Alabama Community College System around the state.
Ivey made the announcement during the annual state tourism conference at the Alabama Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores. She congratulated the industry’s widespread adoption of masks and other safety protocols to stem the person-to-person spread of the virus in hotels, restaurants and other venues. More than 300 industry leaders took part in the conference.
Lee Sentell, state tourism director, said tudents will train within the community college system’s 24 colleges at more than 130 locations across the state. Sentell, who forwarded the industry’s funding request to the governor, thanked tourism leaders in Birmingham, Mobile and the Gulf Coast, among other areas, for sharing their goals of attracting more potential staff.
The certification programming is being developed by the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation through the Alabama Community College System Innovation Center, a statement from Ivey’s office said.
“The ACCS Innovation Center is to train Alabamians for Alabama jobs with curriculum designed by Alabama’s business and industry,” ACCS Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker said. “Our ability to deliver rapid, non-credit training for the state’s most in-demand career fields will lead to increased certifications among Alabama’s workforce and help reach Gov. Ivey’s SuccessPlus attainment goal.”
Mara Harrison, interim director of the ACCS Innovation Center said the program will provide rapid training for the state’s tourism and hospitality industries at a crucial time.
“This online training was created alongside Alabama businesses, features Alabama businesses, and ensures that when an individual earns a credential, that person is job-ready on day one of employment,” Harrison said.
Sentell said that, as far as he knew, no other state is approaching workforce development by making it virtually accessible to all citizens ages 16 and older.
“We know tourism revenue makes an economic impact for Alabama, and that spending generates jobs in other sectors, Sentell said. “This project has the potential to not only bring new professionals into our industry but to also create opportunities for Alabamians as a whole.”
According to the tourism department’s 2020 Economic Impact Report, the state’s tourism industry employed more than 165,000 workers in the last year. An economic impact analysis using a model developed by Montgomery economist Keivan Deravi said that every $119,842 in travel industry spending creates one direct job in Alabama. Some 111,482 direct jobs led to the creation of 53,747 additional, indirect jobs.
