Macao's tourism industry is undergoing rapid development and transformation. To rightly position our tourism industry and enhance the quality of service, it is important to build a local pool of professional and managerial talents.

IFT is the only public higher education institution in Macao specialising in tourism and hospitality education and training. We recognise that tourism is the world’s largest industry that breaks down national boundaries. Hence, the Institute has been striving to internationalise our programmes. We profit from strong ties with global tourism and travel associations in order to benchmark our curricula against the rigorous standards of prestigious institutions.

IFT’s international network allows our students to venture to different continents. The latest additions to the network are two well known institutions of hospitality education in Switzerland - Glion Institute of Higher Education and Les Roches School of Hotel Management. Through academic and cultural exchanges, both parties hope to reap significant benefits from further development of higher education in the tourism and hospitality area, as well as opportunities for research and resource sharing. Such cooperation could also help to promote Macao as well as Asian cultures in Switzerland and enable students and academic staff to improve through cross learning.

In addition, UNESCO and IFT are co-developing the Cultural Heritage Specialist Guide Training and Certification Programme for Asia Pacific. Most significantly, IFT has been appointed to be the regional training and assessment centre responsible to offer a series of relevant training courses. Students who complete the programme and pass the examination will be granted a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Specialist Guide certificate. Not only could such courses enhance the quality of tour guides and their identification with their profession, but they also promote cultural tourism in the region.

To keep pace with the development of our community, we have been diversifying our programmes and expanding our training capacity. With the support of the Government and the industry, we believe that the quality and quantity of tourism professionals in Macao will be enhanced to meet future challenges.