Australia, via the ‘Sub-regional Pilot of the APEC Occupational Standards for the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry in the Pacific Alliance’ project, led a collaborative endeavour with the Pacific Alliance economies of Chile; Colombia; Mexico; and Peru to test the applicability of the APEC Occupational Standards for the occupations of Cook and Housekeeper, mapping domestic standards against those developed through APEC. Through this process, which involved over 170 industry and 75 institutional representatives, the Pilot demonstrated that the APEC Occupational Standards were relevant to each of the local labour markets and could be used flexibly to inform domestic standards development, updates to training curriculum and the recognition of skills held by workers.

These findings will provide valuable evidence for APEC members as they continue to pursue longer term objectives for the international certification of skills competencies and enhanced regional labour mobility.