A new program, designed to allow its participants to acquire business skills, permits workers in the hotel industry to obtain a diploma while they continue to work.

It’s a work-study program, with 60 per cent of the time in the workplace and 40 per cent in the classroom. The program for acquisition of skills in business (PACE) has been underway since the beginning of the school year. For this first year, a Diploma in professional studies (DEP) in hotel industry and reception, lasting 735 hours, is available to clients who are already employed. The training is accredited by the ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MÉES — Ministry of Education and Advanced Teaching) and financed largely by the Commission des partenaires du Marché du Travail (CPMT – Commission of Partners from the Workplace).

The École Hôtelière des Laurentides, the Commission scolaire des Laurentides and the Chambre de commerce du Grand Mont-Tremblant officially underscored, on October 24, the launch of PACE. Identified as an established tourist destination, the Laurentides (Laurentians area) is characterized by a blooming tourist industry. More than 25 per cent of the jobs in the MRC des Laurentides and the MRC des Pays-d’en-Haut, our local regional county municipalities, are related to this industry.

“It was a matter of responding to the lack of jobs in the tourism economic sector and the reason for which local partners got together to provide a new type of education and training adapted to the tourist industry, our main regional economic generator,” indicated Isabelle Plouffe, general manager of the Chambre de commerce du Grand-Mont-Tremblant.

“This excellent opportunity was offered to us: to develop and promote training in the tourist field in our own area. Ultimately, we hope to offer more than one DEP from the l’École Hôtelière des Laurentides to employees who are working in business and thus ensure they have full qualifications while adapting the teaching approach to the reality of their workplace,” noted Gisèle Godreau, chair of the Commission scolaire des Laurentides (CSL – Laurentians school board). )

It should be mentioned that the CSL offers programs in professional training and education, notably thanks to the École Hôtelière des Laurentides, which has eight programs. The school specializes exclusively in the food, restaurant, hotel and tourism sectors.