In 2006, the Sri Lankan hotel company Jetwing Hotel started the Jetwing Youth Development Project (JYDP) in a remote area, offering a nine-month training programme to more than 100 unemployed young men and women in the neighbourhood, with strong support of the local Buddhist temples. With a total investment of only 7,500 US dollars, fifty young villagers and some single women had become hospitality professionals by the end of the training and were given employment opportunities at the Jetwing-owned luxury eco-resort Vil Uyana.

In 2009, after the end of the civil war, Jetwing again successfully offered training opportunities primarily to young people from areas affected by civil war in the north and northeast of Sri Lanka.

Nicole Häusler, M.A.
Responsible Tourism Consultant
masIcontour
Berlin, Germany
haeusler@mascontour.info