22 Mar 2018

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism Mr Tshekedi Khama has told Parliament that the Tourism Industry Training Fund continued to grow.

Mr Tshekedi who was answering a question in Parliament on March 21 explained that the fund conducted training for the tourism industry personnel as well as personnel of institutions that supported the tourism sector.

He disclosed that to date a total of 3 033 employees had been trained through the fund through the provision of courses such as front use operations, house-keeping, food and beverage, customer service, interior decoration, first aid, and basic sign language amongst others.

Minister Tshekedi, who said he was not aware of any training done under the Tourism Levy, pointed further that the greatest challenge that the Tourism Industry Training Fund was facing was that tourism enterprises were not eager to release industry personnel selected for training. This, he said, resulted in poor attendance to training.

He added that in some cases employers released unsuitable personnel for training. The minister said a total number of 75 employees from the Chobe district had been trained through the Tourism Industry Training Fund. Chobe legislator, Mr Machana Shamukuni had asked for an update on the status of the Tourism Levy. He had also wanted the minister to state the number of people in the Chobe District who had received training through the levy a s well as their positions in the tourism industry.