By Alex Malanga
Dar
es Salaam — Tourism Confederation of Tanzania (TCT) yesterday urged the
youth to join more training programmes in the hospitality industry to
enhance their skills and improve their competitiveness in the sector.
The call was made
during a 2-day sub-regional skills sharing workshop on formal
apprenticeship that brought together stakeholders from Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda, Malawi and Zambia.
"I would like to
call on the youth to use apprenticeship programmes as an opportunity
should Tanzania want to bridge the gap between the world of training and
the world of work," noted TCT executive secretary Richard Rugimbana.
The move would be
possible, as long as the training programme enhanced young people to
have an opportunity to get relevant skills and reduce skills mismatch.
He said the
programme that is supported by the International Labour Organisation
(ILO), was set to enhance skills and entrepreneurship programmes to
improve labour productivity and employment creation.
Mr Rugimbana said
it was on that ground that the private sector in tourism, particularly
TCT and Hotels Association of Tanzania (HAT) in collaboration with the
National College of Tourism (NCT) established the programme in the past
one year.
HAT chief executive
officer Lathifa Sykes said Tanzania had a huge potential in tourism
sector, but the problem which it has been facing is the skills gap. "We
have a lot of untapped areas in tourism sector, which is attributed to
the skills gap," Ms Sykes said, adding: "it is our duty to promote and
market the sector."
She cited the issue
of tour guards as an example of the area that needs Tanzanians to go
beyond the limit by undergoing intensive training, if Tanzania is to
optimally benefit from tourism sector.
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