East African Business Week (Kampala)
Bosco Hitiman
25 February 2008
Kigali — A new tourism school, Kigali Tourism School (KTS) is set to open soon to offer professional tourism training.
KTS will be offering training in tours and travel operations, tour guide and administration, hotel operations, kitchen and restaurant courses.
The school will also train students in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and language courses to equip them with skills in communication and office operations.
In hotel operations, students will be specializing in hospitality, food production, food and beverage services, front office operations, and house keeping because of the growing market in the region.
The principal of the school, Mr. Ahmed Kamana told East African Business Week recently that KTS is an initiative of parents association created in 2000 to promote tourism in the country (APEHOTOUR).
The association officially started its operations in 2005 and it currently runs a higher learning institute of tourism in Rwanda, Rwanda Tourism Institute (RTI).
Kamana noted that APEHOTOUR has seen Rwanda Tourism Institute grow and now wants to open Kigali Tourism School to offer professional and hands-on tourism courses at certificate level.
The school, that will be located in Kigali, will first admit a bunch of 200 trainees both on day and evening courses.
KTS will help break the viscous cycle of poor hospitality in Rwandan hotels and restaurants.
KTS seeks cooperation with Kenya's best tourism college- Kenya Utalii College to exchange knowledge and expertise which would enable the two institutions offer more professional tourism training in the region.
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The school is welcome indeed. It will have to meet the following challenges:
(1) Have a curriculum a Tourism curriculum acceptable and supportable by the Ministry of Education.
- Bring the National Curriculum Center on board to prepare such a curriculum or fund an expert that may work with the National Curriculum Center if they are agreeable to that
(2) Have appropriate infrustructure in place, namely:
- Classroms, playgrounds, library, and so on and so forth... The usual stuff required to create a school.
(3) Wiarning: a school of tourism is of tourism is more challenging than a school that provides general education because our country is focused on the area: - to reduce porverty NOW - to make our country maketable and attractive to foreign investors.
That said, I wish KTS good luck.