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Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts Earns Recognition for Preserving the Future of Hospitality in 
Under-Resourced Countries
 
(Singapore) --- April 1999 - Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts continues to earn  great praise for the company's contributions to the education and training of  youth and for their commitment to preserving the future of hospitality in  several under-resourced countries. 

Due to her role in the development and implementation of Pan Pacific's successful Youth Career Development Program, Corporate Director of  Education Lyndall de Marco has been asked to join the Travel & Tourism  business and industry delegation to the United Nations Commission on  Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in New York during the April 19-21 discussion  of the issues surrounding the travel and tourism industry.  Coordinated by the International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA) and the World Travel  and Tourism Council (WTTC), this year will mark the first dialog on travel and tourism since the inception of UNCSD seven years ago. 

Lyndall is one of only 25 participating industry leaders from around  the world and Pan Pacific's Youth Career Development Program will be featured  as an example of a practical industry initiative during these discussions. 

Background: 
Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts' Youth Career Development Program

In cooperation with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Pan Pacific launched the Youth Career Development Program (YCDP) in 1995 in Thailand and has since expanded the program to Pan Pacific hotels in Bangladesh, Manila, and Jakarta. 
 
The YCDP is designed to provide innovative educational and vocational  training to disadvantaged youth throughout the globe who may otherwise be  engulfed in crime, prostitution, drugs, exploitation, abuse, and deprivation. 

Dr. Kitiya Phornsadja, the UNICEF Project Officer for Children in  Especially Difficult Circumstances, explains that the YCDP is not an end in  itself but instead a window of opportunity for children at risk to explore their options.  She comments, "Career development, a component of integrated  intervention programs to eliminate the deprivation of development rights and  exploitation of children, increases the ability of youth to earn real income 
and at the same time build their self esteem and self worth." 

The inspiration for this innovative educational and vocational  training program came from Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts' President Ichigo (Ishee) Umehara who states, "One of our corporate core values is to seek  enrichment of mankind and to make a difference to the lives of people.  To this end, a community program should always go hand in hand with the  establishment of each new Pan Pacific hotel." 

The joint program with UNICEF started in Thailand four years ago with  10 young women and has since grown to impacting over 200 disadvantaged youth. 
 

The Pan Pacific
Bangkok
The Pan Pacific Bangkok's program is a five month introduction to the hospitality industry as well as vocational training. This opportunity provides job seeking skills, presents options to build a productive career,  and supplies the youth with viable alternatives to the (previously) customary  life of prostitution. 

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, The Pan Pacific Sonargaon recently brought in 9 orphans (ages 8-12) from a local orphanage to

provide them with education, English language skills, and internship opportunities until they finish  school. When the hotel began this program 18 years ago, four orphans were trained in the same fashion and now work at the hotel as permanent employees. 

In Manila, children from the outer islands of the Philippines were brought into the city six months ago by UNICEF who provided housing and an allowance whilst The Pan Pacific Manila provided education and hospitality skills. 

A program will soon be launched at The Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta which  will provide orphan teenagers, left on their own at the age of 17, with  education and training in housekeeping skills to enable them to find future jobs in private homes as houseboys, maids, and drivers. 

Each of the programs at the various hotels are actually monitored (or  taught) by hotel executives who act as "teachers" in all career placement and  education activities. 

Umehara states, "The purpose of these programs is not to provide money nor charity, rather it is to provide an education to the underprivileged, to  equip them with skills which will allow them to get jobs, and to make a  better future for themselves and their families."  He continues, "I feel very  proud that we are able to make this contribution to the community and we will  be looking at other opportunities in other destinations where we have hotels  to organize similar projects." 
 
Spear-headed by the company's Corporate Director of Education Lyndall  de Marco, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts is making a concerted effort to  impact the lives of disadvantaged youth throughout the world.  Not only is de  Marco inspiring support of this program within the Pan Pacific family of 21  hotels, she has also been active in securing commitments in this admirable crusade from other hotels within Bangkok and has been campaigning to enlist  the support of the International Hotel and Restaurant Association's 300,000+  members from 150 countries. 

Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts currently encompasses 22 hotels (19 managed properties, 2 marketing affiliates, and 1 hotel under development) in 12  countries in Asia, the Pacific and North America. You can access Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts on the Internet at  www.panpac.com

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Contact:
Molly Cahill 
(925) 631-7971, phone 
(925)  631-7970, fax
[email protected], e-mail
 --
 
Also See: The Concierge Staff at San Francisco's Pan Pacific Hotel Provide Unusual Anecdotes / Feb 1999 
The Pan Pacific San Francisco Enhances Their Every Conceivable Amenity List with the Addition of On-Site Auto Detailing / April 1999 

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