Major challenges

The complex and multi-disciplinary nature of tourism, as well as the multi-dimensional barriers that prevent its sustainable growth remain strongly linked to inconsistent levels of knowledge, skills and capacity of those that are directly or indirectly involved in the sector.

Tourism training has for years been characterised by the oversupply of uncoordinated and inadequate provision across both the public and private sectors. Although on the way to improvement, evidence from well-established destinations, such as The Gambia and Kenya has identified a number of deficiencies. This is all compounded by the fact that the curricula were not standardised, therefore affecting the quality of tourism vocational education at national level (Mayaka and Akama, 2007).

Regarded as a seasonal and low paid sector made up of many small providers with limited resources, identifying and providing the right level of training remains a challenging task. Furthermore, roles within tourism and hospitality are generally regarded as inferior. They are not viewed as an opportunity with a career path, but rather a short-term job prospect and used as a stepping stone into other better paid service sectors’ organisations such as banking or retailing.