SA’s travel and tourism industry will be getting a skills boost from grassroots level, through the Travel and Tourism Excellence Academy – an initiative driven by Amadeus IT Group and SA’s Department of Tourism and key industry stakeholders, to provide businesses in the travel and tourism industry with skilled professionals in areas responding directly to the needs of industry, and support a transformation from the grassroots.
The initiative is now four months into set-up, and the first groups of demand-led training are successfully under way. A group of 85 young men and women are receiving training at the academy, and will secure jobs on completion of the course. The work opportunity has been identified and pre-agreed upon with the businesses that will absorb them.
The academy will also focus on including communities that typically live on the doorsteps of tourist spots, who, either because of lack of opportunity or professional skills training, miss out on the commercial success of such ventures.
Amadeus is funding the training as part of its obligation to the National Industrial Participation Programme in South Africa, with project management company, Economic Development Solutions, helping to implement the programme.
The non-profit Good Work Foundation is also running a carefully crafted training programme at its Hazyview Digital Campus in partnership with the South African College of Tourism. This will ensure recognised certification for the successful candidates.
A new hotel in Skukuza, Kruger National Park, selected a first group of 25 young women from surrounding rural communities for training in a hospitality programme that will equip them for the new jobs the group needs filled, says Jerry Mabena, CEO of Thebe Tourism Group. Over a year, they will receive a combination of theoretical learning, computer training and activities that simulate the real work environment.
“The group just completed its first practical session in a hotel environment and, for many of them, it was a first-time experience on handling departments such as customer care and workplace communication, and telephone and computer skills. For us, it is satisfying to see the first proof-of-concept of a novel idea wherein the industry collaborates to fill critical skills gaps, while helping to reduce unemployment among rural South African youths in an inclusive way,” says Mabena.
