Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Lazaro Nyalandu has said that the numbers of tourism professionals being churned out from local colleges are encouraging as demand for skilled workers in the hotel and tourism sectors continues to grow.

Mr Nyalandu, represented by Hon. Jowica Kasunga, District Commissioner for Monduli, was the chief guest at the graduation ceremony at the National College of Tourism, Arusha Campus during which 79 students graduated on July 6, 2013.

The Minister said that Tanzania stood out as a preferred tourist destination as three of its tourist attractions (Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park and Mount Kilimanjaro) were named among the seven natural wonders of Africa. Hence, the need for tourism skilled labour (human capital) is critical in the field.

The importance of Tanzania's tourism sector arises from the fact that it accounts for over 17 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and acts as a stimulant for other sectors.

Nyalandu, lauded the active involvement of both the private and public sectors in working towards developing tourism across the country, saying that tourism receipts until the year 2012 had reached US$ 1. 7 billion from 1,077,058 tourists who visited the country in 2012.

The National College of Tourism was founded by the government of Tanzania to train technical manpower for the hospitality and tourism industry. It has three Campuses, two in Dar es Salaam and one in Arusha. The Arusha Campus was handed over to the government of Tanzania in 2007 by a German, not-for-profit organization, Hans Seidel Foundation.

Arusha Campus, CEO Ms. Maria Mmari underscored the fact that demands for a skilled workforce is critical and her campus is successfully addressing the issue of human resource training. She noted however that the campus is currently able to register only 85 prospective students annually, compared to more than 200 requests that reach out at her office for admittance.

She further expressed her appreciation to the hotel sub-sector for providing field attachment opportunities as well as job opportunities for the students. She said out of 79 students who were graduating, 22 had already secured jobs.

"To train for such an economy, we have to radically re-organize ourselves and rethink our capacities as a college," suggested the CEO at the 3rd graduation ceremony.

With more facilities like classrooms and a hostel, the college, she said, could enroll more students and therefore create more jobs while availing the industry with qualified human resources. On the same lines, the Deputy NCT CEO underscored the fact that having realized the potential of the Arusha Campus and the challenges facing it, the NCT Management was in the process of preparing a Development Strategy that would ensure expansion of the college as well as increase of facilities and working tools.

The graduation ceremony was packed to the brim with officials from the ministry of natural resources and tourism, tourism and hotel stakeholders, parents of the graduands and invited guests.