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Let me at the outset congratulate you for this extraordinary initiative. You have taken a bold step and are joining in the vision to truly make tourism everybody's, business regardless of their impairments. This initiative supports government's drive to overhaul the ethos and norms in the Tourism Industry to reflect the character of society as a whole. It is this kind of initiatives that will make tourism truly community based.

Last year the Business Trust and the Department of Labour launched a R115 million public-private partnership project to increase the skills base of the South African tourism industry. The Business Trust Tourism Learnership Project, to be implemented by the Hospitality Industries Training Board (HITB), will establish a framework of standards for outcome-based education within the tourism industry and will deliver 15 000 learnerships over the next four years as well as improve the level of skills of people currently employed in the sector.

Your initiative will supplement this programme and will contribute to the development of useful, transferable and accredited skills for the tourism sector which are essential if South Africa is to take advantage of the enormous potential in tourism.

Your programme will be complemented by the Business Trust Tourism Learnership Project, which will ensure that there is an adequate workforce of suitably trained people in the tourism sector to deal with the expected growth in international tourist arrivals.

You are in good company in this regards, as a set of National Qualifications (NQs) for the tourism and hospitality sector, to comply with National Qualifications Framework (NQF) requirements has been established and will assist you to adhere to the highest standards when you offer this course.

Your programme is a very important pointer in the direction of introducing Tourism and environmental issues into the schools curriculum. You would be aware that we have been talking about this issue for a while and through the National Environmental Programme led by the Department of Education we are making progress in contributing to the national curriculum implementation policy.

There is a ground swell of support in the academic community about tourism. There are now courses at various Technikons and Universities focusing on tourism. On a regular basis, we have been informed about quite a few students who are focusing their masters programmes on tourism. This is a vote of confidence in the potential of this industry. It is the youth who will sustain this industry that we are working hard to consolidate and make real its contribution the economy.

For South Africa to become a tourist nation we need to not only educate our people on the important role that tourism plays in our economy, but also equip them with the skills to play this role ever more effectively.

Thank you

Contact: Onkgopotse JJ Tabane on 082 465 6166

Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 3 May 2001