Tourism sector calls for hospitality training school in Victoria Falls

CALLS to establish a hospitality and tourism training centre in the City of Victoria Falls are getting louder with key stakeholders citing the need to capacitate more locals with the necessary skills.

Over the years, residents have accused tourism players of importing labour while the industry said it was being forced to look outside the resort town because locals lacked the skills.

Industry players have also said they were not getting adequate support from the academic sector in terms of qualified personnel in the area of hospitality and tourism.

Despite being the country’s tourism capital, Victoria Falls does not have a tourism training facility and relies on graduates from Bulawayo and other cities.

This has over the years created animosity as locals accused businesses of importing labour.

Victoria Falls Town Clerk, Mr Ronnie Dube said the establishment of a tourism school was part of the city’s strategic plan.

The matter was part of discussion at the recent council’s Strategic Plan Review workshop, which sought to align the council’s operations to the country’s economic blueprints, particularly the National Development Strategy (NDS1).

“We have the issue of a vocational tourism training centre in our plan. We call it vocational in the sense that it has to be tourism related.

“We have partnered Lupane State University (LSU) and we have given them a piece of land where they will construct a school of hospitality,” said Mr Dube.

He said having a tourism school will benefit locals who will have an opportunity to be trained.
At the moment only tour guides and professional hunters are trained locally in partnership with the University of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

Hotels conduct in-house training mostly for waiters, waitresses and kitchen staff.
Mr Dube said once a tourism training centre is established, the industry will not have an excuse for importing labour.
Tourism executive, Ms Yvonne Jandles, raised the issue during the Strategic Plan workshop saying a tourism vocational training institution was long overdue.

“There is a need for a vocational tourism training centre and such a facility will offer skills to the locals,” she said.

Ms Jandles said the vocational training centre will churn out graduates that will replace the many skilled workers that lost their jobs following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe Matabeleland North chapter chairperson, Mr Anald Musonza, said human capital development was key to maintaining international standards.

“It’s amiss that Victoria Falls has no vocational and tourism training facility yet its economy is based on tourism,” he said.

Combined Victoria Falls residents Association chairman, Mr Kelvin Moyo, said the city largely depends on tourism.

“It’s our wish that we have such as development and probably expanding to other sectors outside tourism,” he said.
LSU marketing and communications director, Mr Zwelithini Dlamini, is on record saying all plans for the hotel school have been approved and construction will start soon. — The Chronicle