Afrikanischer Tourismussektor braucht eTraining

Afrikas Tourismus wächst stetig, um 7 Prozent jährlich seit 2000. Diese positive wirtschaftliche Entwicklung stellt gleichzeitig eine Herausforderung für Führungskräfte der Tourismusbranche dar. Bezahlbare und leicht zugängliche Trainingsmaßnahmen müssen her. Verschiedene neue eLearning-Projekte mit internationaler Beteiligung tragen dieser Herausforderung Rechnung.


African Tourism Industry needs eTraining

Africa is showing strong growth in tourism, which has been averaging 7 percent per annum since 2000. South and East Africa, in particular, with their national parks and fascinating fauna, are attracting more travellers than ever. The FIFA World Cup 2010 will provide another boost to tourism. But these positive economic developments also bring new challenges for managers in the travel and tourism sector. In order to keep up with the growing demand for tourism, they need more and specialised training that is both affordable and accessible. Several new eLearning projects address this issue.

Often tourism development is hindered not by the lack of capital but by the lack of suitably qualified personnel. Several African countries, together with international partners, are thus actively looking for programmes to solve this problem. Recently, Spain and Kenya agreed that both countries will start an eLearning programme for Spanish tour operators that will integrate about 40 employees. The researchers Colin Johnson from San Francisco State University and Matilda Sophia de Beer from South Africa’s University of the Free State are currently developing cost-effective training that can be delivered by eLearning and integrate mobile devices as well as the resources of local training centres. While de Beer’s project aims to improve understanding of the 11 South African languages, Johnson’s training programme seeks to foster basic skills in the hotel sector.

Matilda de Beer developed a particular programme for South Africa. In its constitution, the country officially recognises 11 languages, which are Afrikaans, English, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, isiZulu, siSwati, isiNdebele, Xitsonga and Tshivenda, and this is why South Africa has also set up an integration campaign called “Rainbow Nation”. The de Beer project makes use of this language variety: The eLearning programme combines expertise and skills to engage in research and develop a tourism module that will allow learners to use mobile phones or computers to understand or speak any of the 11 South African languages. The software for this purpose is named Afrilingo, a multi-awarded programme that allows users to switch easliy from one language into the other.

The package Matilda de Beer is developing at the moment is aimed at students of tourism as well as tourists, and offers the opportunity of being used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Event. She believes that, on the one hand, multilingualism leads to the tourism industry being more receptive to the thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behaviour of tourists. On the other hand, it enables tourists to be more mobile and open-minded. As she says, “Imagine a German tourist being able to speak XiTsonga to a mother-tongue speaker of South Africa, buying-in to local cultures, feeling safe and confident in being able to communicate with locals.”

The training scheme of Colin Johnson makes use of materials and expertise from San Francisco State University. The tourist department of San Francisco State provides an education that incorporates management and business theories and practices in the hospitality industry. Classes include hotel operation management, hospitality entrepreneurship management and international tourism. However, the programme has been evaluated and adapted locally by the Kenya Utalo Hotel School in Nairobi. By integrating teaching, research and community service learning, higher education learners will gain scientific knowledge as well as develop a range of personal and social skills required by the tourism industry.

African tourism industry

In the tourism industry, people say that 12 tourists generate one job. Many skills developed within the hospitality and tourism sectors are highly transferable to other industries. This is what makes proper training in this sector valuable in a broader sense, even more so when considering that Africa’s tourism growth is on the rise. After the end of the cold war and the apartheid regime in South Africa, travellers have become the most important international economic factor. Spurred by the upcoming FIFA World Cup, tourism in South Africa is expected to grow to 14 percent of the gross domestic product by 2014. Chances are also good that destinations like Namibia, with its striking deserts, or Mozambique, with its long beaches, will earn more money from tourism than from any other export industry in the near future. Even Angola, after years of civil war, is encouraging tourists to visit its national parks.