New Internship Program Links Greek Tourism Education With Labor Market

Greece’s tourism education is planned to be linked with the country’s labor market through a pilot internship program that has been successfully applied in Germany and other countries such as Portugal and Spain, according to an announcement made today, 26 March, by Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni.

The announcement followed a meeting the tourism minister held in Athens with German Federal Deputy Labor Minister Hans-Joachim Fuchtel.

The new internship program is based mainly on the support of tourism businesses of the Greek private sector and will run in parallel with the professional tourism education programs of the Greek Tourism Ministry.

According to the program, students will be employed at private tourism enterprises through a paid internship during the course of their studies.

On his part, the German Federal Deputy Labor Minister Hans-Joachim Fuchtel applauded the Greek Tourism Ministry’s “very important decision”  to promote the issue of training since  it would help “combat unemployment.”

Mr. Fuchtel spoke of the advantages of the internship program and underlined the experience the intern students would gain in the hospitality sector and the benefits they would receive. “These executives will make a difference tomorrow,” he said.