Mr Ong Ye Kung, chief executive officer of the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), told The Straits Times yesterday that the agency wanted to prepare existing workers for new job opportunities in the tourism sector.

'We will make special efforts to reach out to the economically inactive, including back-to-work women, retired workers and the unemployed,' he disclosed.

The WDA will release details of the total number of such workers it is seeking to train towards the end of the month.

Since June last year, about 3,500 people have completed WDA-sponsored training to work in the tourism industry. The sector is set to create 60,000 positions, one-third of which will be generated by the IRs.

Some of the jobs are rarely seen in Singapore. They include swimming with sharks, operating a roller coaster and dealing cards at a casino gaming table.

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Although many of the jobs on the WDA list are for less-skilled workers without high academic qualifications, the agency has seen a mound of applications from better-qualified people.

For instance, 37 per cent of students at the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore have tertiary education. The proportion hits 45 per cent at local culinary school at-sunrice.

At the Singapore campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which offers degrees in hospitality, such students form 74 per cent of the student body.

These newcomers to the tourism industry are a cut above the existing 150,000 workers, only about 30 per cent of whom have tertiary education.

The WDA sees their entry into the industry as a sign that the image of tourism professionals is improving. 'The general perception of service jobs is that of low pay, low skill with limited career progression,' said WDA's tourism division head Teo Sio Hoon.

'On the contrary, there are tremendous opportunities in the tourism industry with good career progression.'

Mr Nazrul Johari, 24, who attended a customer interaction course last year, is now more confident bantering with his guests.

Said the ride operator at the Escape Theme Park in Pasir Ris: 'I hope to become an amusement park manager.'

To spark Singaporeans' interest in the IR jobs, the WDA will hold roadshows and career talks and place advertisements showcasing tourism workers on buses and in newspapers. One of its targets is people working in other sectors.

Said Ms Teo: 'Sectors, such as manufacturing, are shedding jobs. We want to help those who are affected transit to tourism jobs.'

Also on the WDA's radar screen are retirees and stay- at-home mums. Genting's Resorts World at Sentosa, one of the IRs, is keen to tap them, the handicapped and former prison inmates.

'We pride ourselves as a fair opportunity employer,' said its human resources director Seah Ee Boon.

It plans to recruit for key positions next year and expects to hire more than 10,000 workers by 2010. Ms Seah said:

'We want people with an innate passion and motivation to serve and have fun at work.'

The WDA's training efforts are not linked to courses offered by private schools here on casino management and for those interested in becoming croupiers.

klin@sph.com.sg

chinlian@sph.com.sg