The ASEAN MRA on Tourism Professionals facilitates mobility of tourism professionals in ASEAN through agreement on the equivalence of tourism certification procedures and qualifications across ASEAN.
An ASEAN tourism professional may be recognised by other ASEAN Member States and be eligible to work in a host country, provided that he/ she possesses a valid tourism competency certificate in a specific tourism job title specified in the ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals (ACCSTP), issued by the Tourism Professional Certification Board (TPCB) in an ASEAN Member State. The eligibility to work in a host country will be subjected to prevailing domestic laws and regulations of the host country. The overall implementation of MRA is overseen by the ASEAN Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee (ATPMC).
At present, there are six areas where ASEAN tourism professionals may find employment in other ASEAN Member States: Front Office, Housekeeping, Food Production, Food and Beverage Services (for Hotel Services), Travel Agency, and Tour Operations. In delivering this programme, there are 242 toolboxes that will be developed within 2015. Each toolbox contains: competency standards, trainee manual, trainer manual, assessor manual, third party statement, observation checklist, evaluation materials and sample unit including trainee notes and PowerPoint slides.
In maintaining quality assurance for those workers receiving certificates, an ASEAN Tourism Professionals Registration System (ATPRS) is being developed to facilitate registration process of those workers possessing the ASEAN certificates so as to well document all necessary information. The ATPRS is expected to be complete in December 2015. To promote implementation of the MRA, a Regional Secretariat will be established to support operations and management as well as implementation of related projects and activities.
Further details on the mechanisms and requirements instituted by the MRA are explained in the Handbook of ASEAN MRA on Tourism Professional.
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