Last year there was an increase of 22.5 per cent in employment vacancies for CERT -(the tourism training authority) graduates, with virtually full, employment being achieved for all who qualified.
Of the unemployed adults who took CERT elementary courses in tourism, 84 per cent got jobs. In 1996, CERT trained 11,061 people.
The figures were released in CERT's review of 1996, published yesterday.
The authority's chairman, Mr James Nugent, said demands from the tourism industry "for right staff continued right through the year, a real testament to the boom in the industry".