School of Tourism & Hospitality Management

Overview


The School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) is one of two Schools within the Faculty of Business and Tourism Studies.

The School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) has a purpose-built teaching and training facility at Kukum Campus, Honiara. It is located on the Philip Highway Road, with easy access to various transportation and other amenities such as shops and markets.

The modern commercial kitchen, bar area with a coffee maker, entertainment foyer, two demonstrating model hotel rooms for housekeeping and laundry, a model reception area, lecture theatre, computer lab, tutorial rooms, and staff offices make up the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

A school for excellence, STHM aims to advance the knowledge, skills, and humanities of those working in the tourism and hospitality industries. This is achieved by:

  • Combining theoretical and practical knowledge for both the public and private sectors of society
  • Equipping and confirming graduates with the command and transformational power of serving society through their work
  • Providing responsive programmes to meet the needs of industry/economy and the care of the individual.
  • Promoting scientific research and policy dialogue as a way to provide advancement to society in what it means ‘to be of service’ and its consequences.
  • Strengthening cooperation with other academic institutions, training facilities, business organizations and civil society to promote the dissemination of moral principles and human development.

Mission


  1. Transfer Knowledge and Skills in line with Hospitality, Events and Tourism Management.
  2. Stimulate a critical and active learning mix, oriented to the direct application, during classes, of models and tools with applications to real business context and business requirements.
  3. Provide an overview of the tourism systems, and its development trends for a better understanding of the interconnections between the tourism, hospitality, events and related industry- (Food, Fashion, Sports, Arts and Cultural Heritage)
  4. Foster students’ specialization in Culinary Arts, Hospitality, Events and Tourism.
  5. Offer graduates the confidence to be entrepreneurial and to move away from a paradigm of “job seekers” to “job creators”.

Message from the Head of School


MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL - SCHOOL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY 2024

"Welcome to the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. Choosing to study at the School of Tourism and Hospitality, is your personal choice and our trained academics are here to assist and help you prepare you for an exciting career in tourism and hospitality.  This will mould you and prepare you to graduate and contribute to the tourism sector of the country"

- Annette Kay Honimae (HEAD OF SCHOOL)

The programmes and qualifications from the Hospitality and Tourism industry are the perfect gateway options for a person who wants to break the mould of conventional life and gain valuable skills in the process.  All you will need is a passion for travel, good organisational and communications skills and enjoy working with people.

Our graduates continue to fill customer service roles in the country. Our strong links with the industry form a fundamental part of our internship programs, giving our students first-hand experience as part of their learning; this is to equip them before they graduate, ensuring they are career-ready.

 

I wish you all every success as in your studies and trust that your experience as a student in our school will be a rewarding one.

Departments & Divisions


The School of Tourism and Hospitality Management is divided into Two (2) Academic Departments and Two (2) Professional Technical Divisions.

Academic Departments

  1. Department of Tourism & Hotel Management
  2. Department of Hospitality & Culinary Arts

Professional and Technical Divisions

  1. Hotel Accommodation and Conferencing Division
  2. Kitchen Bar and Restaurant Division

The two professional and technical divisions collaborate with the hotels and catering industry to offer real-world skills and experiences to prepare you to be work-ready before graduating. These divisions are:

  1. Accommodations - 3 start Hotel Rooms Facilities used as demonstration model rooms for training in housekeeping, laundry and reception area. This is augmented by a conference facility used for meetings and events management.
  2. Kitchen, Café and Bar - Lokol Fusion Café is a state of the Art fully equipped commercial kitchen, bar area with a coffee machine, dining area and foyer for entertainment. The commercial restaurant operates as a popular café known as the Lokol Fusion Café (LFC) and teaches hands-on skills to hospitality students in cookery, catering, bar, barista and customer Services.

Benefits of Obtaining a Qualification in Tourism and Hospitality Management at the School of Tourism and Hospitality


  1. Local, Regional and Global Opportunity

    Careers in this industry are amongst the fastest-growing areas of employment in the world. Our country needs competent and skills-trained people to help tourism businesses overcome recruitment, retention and skills deficiencies. The jobs out there are plentiful and not just in the Solomon Islands, you can land a job anywhere in the South Pacific or World

  2. Transferable Skills

    A qualification in Tourism and Hospitality Teaches students Business Management, Marketing Fundamentals, Human Resources, Project Management, Sustainability, Cross-Cultural awareness and many more. The knowledge and skills acquired through these programs are essential and useful for a variety of different careers. Students leave the program well-rounded in many important business aspects.

  3. Make an Impact

    As a student, you will learn about sustainable tourism and how you can mitigate the negative impacts travelling has on the environment. With more and more people travelling each year, it is important to understand the effect it has on cultures, communities and our planet. Tourism has the potential to make the world a better place by attracting tourist hotspots. Learn how you can contribute through the creation of jobs with fair wages and environmental protection.

  4. Versatility

    If you want to work at a hotel, resort, or cruise ship, the world is your oyster with a job in tourism and hospitality. These positions typically need non-traditional hours. There are a wide variety of fascinating work environments and possibilities available to professionals in the tourism industry.

  5. It’s Fun

    Have you ever noticed how everyone in the tourism and hospitality sector always appears to be happy and smiling? The reason is that tourism is a fun job. Life becomes an adventure when you are constantly exposed to new things and meet new people from all over the world. The best approach to understand ourselves and the world in which we live is through travel.

Why Study Hospitality and Tourism?

An important industry that significantly influences the growth of the nation's economy is tourism. The tourism sector has been booming. Unfortunately, the last two years have been difficult, particularly because of the extraordinary effects of Covid-19 on the entire world.

Despite the difficulties, nations are now putting more of an emphasis on tourism as borders reopen to allow for international travel. Jobs and increased income are two of tourism's primary advantages. Infrastructure development in this area makes it easy for nations like the Solomon Islands to improve the well-being of its citizens.

But what do you learn through a Hospitality and Tourism Program?

  • Qualification in Tourism, and Hospitality soft skills
  • Business Management and people skills
  • Understanding ourselves, our places and our resources
  • Hospitality and Tourism industry and competence skills
  • Intriguing and inviting transferable skills for young students

Benefits of Study Tourism and Hospitality Management

Travel, tourism, and hospitality continue to reap the rewards of rising company activity and consumer spending as the economy picks back up. It's worthwhile to pursue a profession in tourism and hospitality. If you wish to work in the tourism industry, there are a wide range of fascinating opportunities available to you, including positions with hotels, airlines, destinations, attractions, transportation, cruises, events, tourism services, travel agencies, and tour operators.

Promotional Video 2022!


First ever promotional video for the Faculty of Business and Tourism Studies- School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM).

STHM is a centre of excellence that seeks to enrich the hospitality and service professions in matters of knowledge, skills and humanity. It does this by:

  • Combining theoretical and practical knowledge for both the public and private sectors of society
  • Equipping and confirming graduates with the command and transformational power of serving society through their work
  • Providing responsive programmes to meet the needs of industry/economy and the care of the person
  • Promoting scientific research and policy dialogue as a way to provide advancement to society in what it means ‘to be of service’ and its consequences.
  • Strengthening co-operation with other academic institutions, training facilities, industry bodies and civil society so as to contribute to the spread of sound values and human development

The official launch of this video was held on Friday 10th June 2022 and we acknowledge and thank  RevealPasifik Media for their support in producing this video.

This video captures the essence of what SINU-School of Tourism and Hospitality Management has to offer to our students and we hope you enjoy this short clip

Head of School


Mrs. Annette Kay Honimae

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Master of International Tourism and Management – (with Honours), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Post Graduate Diploma of Diplomacy & International Affairs, The University of the South Pacific (USP), SUVA, Fiji.
  • Bachelor of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of the South Pacific (USP), SUVA, Fiji.
  • Diploma of Office Management, Torrens Valley Institute of TAFE, Adelaide, South Australia.
  • Certificate III in Hospitality (Food and Beverage), Australia Pacific Training Coalition (APTC), Queensland TAFE Qualification, Australia.
  • Advanced Certificate in Secretarial Studies, School of Finance and Administration, Solomon Islands College of Higher Education, Honiara, Solomon Islands.
  • Certificate in Special Education Training, Hilton Special School, Suva, Fiji.

Annette Honimae’s Research Work:

Topic:  “Can Ecotourism, a potential catalyst to improve local livelihoods and indigenous communities in Solomon Islands.”

Mrs Annette Honimae did her dissertation research on the above topic, and has a publication on the topic.  The publisher is the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Auckland, New Zealand.

Annette Honimae has been with the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business and Tourism Studies for the past 9 years.  She is one of the pioneers of the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, (now the School of Tourism and Hospitality) which was established as SICHE was launched as a university.  She was the coordinator of all tourism and hospitality programmes when the school started offering its courses in 2015.  She was also the Internship Coordinator for the Institute.  She was also the Interim Coordinator Research for the School of Tourism and Hospitality and has held a number of key roles within the Faculty of Business and Tourism Studies before being appointed as the Head of the School.

Annette has performed well and very much actively involved in the management of the school, contributed to the welfare of staff and students.  She is highly experienced and qualified in tourism, hospitality and management skills and throughout her teaching career, she has mentored a lot of students and enriching them in their learning process.  She has conducted internship programs, established a link with the industry and successfully contributed to the growing number of graduates employed in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in the Solomon Islands. In these roles, she executes academic and administrative responsibilities diligently.