The first Swiss-style hotel school in Scotland is being established in a bid to fill thousands of vacancies and boost standards in the nation's tourism sector.

Scots business tycoon Sir Tom Farmer is leading a steering group of top hoteliers, set up by the Centre of Applied Tourism and Hospitality Management, to create a unique Scottish version of Switzerland's famous hotel schools.

Around £100,000 has already been pledged by the industry to help fund the new £10m centre of excellence, which organisers hope to locate in the Edinburgh area.

The centre will offer a three-year degree course in hospitality management, based on the successful programmes of continental hotel schools.

On-the-job training and mentoring will be used to combat complaints from the industry that the numerous existing courses at Scottish colleges and universities are not practical enough.

It is hoped that the first of two bi-annual intakes of 150 students will start at the school next September to help meet the massive shortage of supervisors and managers.

Dr Craig Thompson, the applied tourism centre's managing director, said within the next decade there would be an estimated 20,000 hospitality management vacancies across Scotland.

He said: "Despite the number of hospitality and tourism programmes in further and higher education in Scotland, the industry constantly complains about the lack of people entering the industry and the calibre of the people entering the industry. A quarter of the industry reports vacancies, especially in management posts, due to a lack of skills.

"We think that by creating this figurehead centre, we can change that and turn out managers and leaders for the future. The Swiss schools produce a very high-calibre student, the hotel school environment is very professional and the students disciplined.

"They provide applied work experience with a mentor, not just washing carrots and dishes."

Robert Cook, chief executive at Scottish-based hotel group Malmaison, welcomed the initiative which he hoped would end his need to rely on one of the leading hotel schools in Lausanne, Switzerland, to help find new managers.

Mr Cook, who is on the hotel school steering group, said: "The value of these hotel schools is astronomical. We as an industry in Scotland are bereft of talent."

Asked whether existing courses at institutions such as Strathclyde University's Business School were producing a good enough calibre of worker, he said: "They are, but not in big enough numbers and they are not practical enough."

New Scottish Tourism Forum (STF) chairman Khaled Shahbo agreed: "I think it's a terrific idea which will raise standards in the industry.

"There have been concerns that the current degrees, while exceptionally good in theory, lack the practical application that the industry is looking for in future managers."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott, who also addressed the STF in his role as convener of Holyrood's economy, energy and tourism committee, said the hotel school would drive up standards. "While we have got lots of individual courses in further and higher education throughout Scotland, we don't have a centre of excellence," he said.

Earlier this year, Mr Scott called on the Scottish Government and the industry to take action to improve Scotland's tourism sector, which is worth around £4.1bn to the nation's economy.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it supported the hotel school "in principle".

Professor Susan Hart, dean of Strathclyde Business School, said its training was internationally renowned and had a particular focus on "world-class" research in tourism and hospitality management. She added: "We are committed to working with industrial partners to ensure we respond to their needs as the sector evolves.

"We will watch developments with the new school with interest and would welcome potential collaboration opportunities."