A lack of standardisation at training institutions, a mismatch between the needs of the tourism industry and the training provided at institutions and a difficulty in retaining skilled workers are some of the challenges facing the tourism industry.
These were some of the challenges highlighted at the Tourism Leadership Dialogue on Skills Development, hosted by the National Department of Tourism in association with the Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality, Sports Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA).
Speaking at the dialogue last week, Johannes Kaledi, Owner of Tswellopele Hospitality Academy, said the tourism training sector needed to be standardised because institutions were currently producing graduates with different levels of skills. Kaledi said all training institutions must work together in order to achieve this.
Diane Abrahams, Director of the School of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), agreed that institutions needed to work together to achieve standardisation across the sector. “Many skills are not formalised,” she added, pointing out that this compounded the problem.
According to Abrahams, there was also a gap between the training provided at institutions and the needs of the tourism industry. To address this, she said the industry needed to engage with institutions to ensure they had an understanding of the skills needed for the sector. Abrahams added that UJ invited guest lecturers from the industry to bridge this gap.
The image of the tourism industry was also a challenge for skills development, said Robyn Christie, GM at Travelport. Christie argued that the image of tourism needed to be addressed to attract students to the industry.
Fihliwe Nkomo, Group Chief Human Resources Executive at Peermont Global, agreed that the perception of tourism was a challenge. She said tourism was viewed as a stepping stone and not a career. Nkomo argued that, until the image of tourism was addressed, the industry would not be able to retain skilled staff.
Caleb Mabaso, Head of Strategic Projects at FEDHASA, suggested that, to address the problem of staff retention, the industry needed to look at which industries people were entering when they left the tourism industry and why.
According to Mabaso, not all employers in the industry adhered to the required human resource standards, which contributed to employees being unhappy in the industry. He added that employers needed to ensure there were platforms where employees could address issues.
The speakers all agreed that skills development and retention were crucial to sustaining the tourism industry.
