NIHOTOUR matriculates 500 trainees, students

The National Institute Of Hospitality And Tourism (NIHOTOUR) has matriculated about 500 trainees and students in nine campuses for the 2020/2021 academic session recently held in Abuja.
  
In his opening speech, the Director General of NIHOTOUR Alhaji Nura Kangiwa congratulated the new students for their admission into the Institute to study professional occupational skills development for career ladder building.

“NIHOTOUR is one of the most rated projects of the United Nations Development Programme/International Labour Organisation (UNDP/ILO), and Nigeria Government for professional travel, hospitality and tourism training services as well as research in the country.

“More importantly, our tuition fees are the least among tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The management subsidises fees of students in this institute to attract the less privileged towards empowering the youth and also providing avenues for professional organisations to access capacity building for their agencies. However, we ensure to do all we can within the resources available to maintain the needed teaching and learning environment for smooth training and studies.”

Kangiwa, however, admonished the fresh trainees and students to use their youthful energies positively to enhance the growth and development of the institute. He further advised them to adhere strictly to the rules and the regulations of the school and participate in all the activities, adding that they should be committed to learning and studying with an expectation of finishing with good results.
  
Speaking on the theme, Building Capacity To Meet The Travel, Hospitality And Tourism Industry Skills Gap For Quality Service Delivery In Nigeria’ FTAN President Nkereuwem Onung commended the Director General for his passionate leadership and unwavering quest to sustain the position of NIHOTOUR as a leading global brand to be reckoned with.

“I am deliberate in using the words ‘Travel, Hospitality and Tourism’ here because it is time we draft the contributions of the Aviation and Transport sector into the calculation of tourism contributions to GDP in Nigeria. Travel, hospitality and tourism industry’s potential to realise growth and make significant contributions to the economic development of communities around the globe mainly hinges on one condition, its ability to rapidly fill hundreds of thousands of new positions with qualified people.

The industry is particularly dependent on its ability to hire young men and women from ages 17-25, who make up the largest share of employees in the industry.”

Onung further said considering how The World Travel and Tourism Council has recently warned that COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a cut down of 50 million jobs worldwide in the industry, the nature of travel, hospitality and tourism businesses will change to functioning with only qualified manpower and more efficient operations, where a balance between smart and skilled labour is sought after.

“So the students should know that while NIHOTOUR is performing its duties of providing them with adequate level of quality education, it is imperative to know that educators and employers need young people with an educational foundation beyond academic and technical skills.

“You critically need life and employability skills as a way to prepare you to be motivated and confident decision makers who can overcome adversity and realise your potential. The importance of life skills for the travel, hospitality and tourism industry cannot be overstated. It is not unusual for entry-level staff in a hotel to interact daily with hundreds of people with different cultural backgrounds, languages, service expectations, and needs, hence, the need for them to rapidly adapt to accommodate a degree of diversity unheard of in other lines of work”.
  
Onung added: “The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) will be introducing our vision of ‘FTAN 500K CARES’ by 2025. CARES means Career Assisted Resources for Employability Scheme, and this is in partnership with M8 Global Know Network. It is expected that by 2025, about 500,000 young workforces in the Travel, Hospitality and Tourism sector will be trained using Technology and modern vocational education training methods.”