Maggie, Mak Weng Ian and Tommy, Chan Tat Ian, alumni of Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), won the Champion and the Best Local Talent Award respectively at the 2013 Portuguese Wine Challenge. The competition was hosted by the newly-formed Macau Sommelier Association (MSA) aims to raise the level of sommeliers' knowledge and skill, also to serve as a platform of idea exchange among the members. While promoting Portuguese wines, the competition will also promote a culture of responsible drinking by highlighting the benefits of wine drinking as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. With the continuous growth of Macao's economy and tourism industry, the number of fine dining restaurant keeps on increasing when new mega resorts establish, this results in the rapid growth of wine market in Macao. Other than the Portuguese wines which the local are more familiar with, Macao starts to import more variety of wines from different regions, hence increasing the demand for professional sommelier and giving a better room for developing local talents in this industry. Maggie and Tommy are the alumni of IFT, both of them devoted themselves in the food and beverage sector after they graduated. They mentioned that their interest in wine began to develop when they attended wine studies class in IFT. After that, they chose to work in food and beverage department of fine dining restaurants in hotel during their internship programme, which gave them the first taste of working in the industry that they are interested in, bringing them joy and satisfaction. Besides learning the compulsory wine studies courses in the institute, they also attended various wine seminars, certificated wine courses offered by IFT. The two of them had joined the Wine Appreciation Club of the institute and both were even once the President of the Club. Sommelier is considered to be an emerging profession in Macao, both Maggie and Tommy expressed that this is a really challenging career. They have to deal with different things and people each day and yet they need to keep up with the market trend, and absorb new knowledge continuously. They both stated that they have strong faith and confidence towards the development of this industry, and have extreme enthusiasm in it. With the establishment of more and more international hotels and mega resorts, the drought for talents in different areas raises rapidly. Therefore, IFT has been successively expanding its list of international partners with the renowned training and certification organisations, including the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), Servsafe®, International Bartenders Association (IBA), London Chamber of Commerce (LCCI), Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School, Confederation of International Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (CIBTAC), American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AH&LEI), Court of Master Sommelier and Burgundy Wine School. The current scope of accreditations includes culinary arts, nutrition, food security, catering and hospitality, accounting, management, public relations, supervision, retail, information technology and advertising. IFT hopes to provide up-to-date and comprehensive training for the human resource market of Macao, for which citizens can enjoy more self-value added chances brought in by the development of the tourism industry.
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