Hospitality & Tourism Training Institute for Arusha

Global Alliance for Africa (GAA) is at the advanced planning stages for a state-of-the-art tourism training centre in Arusha.

Tanzania's Hospitality & Tourism Training Institute will provide an international level of education in tourism and hospitality, including tour guiding, catering and travel agency management.

The courses will be offered to the most vulnerable youth in the greater Arusha area as well as qualified applicants from remote regions of Tanzania and other countries. Founded in 1996, the GAA works in partnership with African national government organisations and religious institutions to provide communities with the necessary support to care for orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Many Tanzanian students of tourism now travel to Utalii college in Nairobi, Kenya or studied at the more basic Arusha Hotel training institute in Sakina, a sister college to Dar-es-Salaam's recently established National Tourism College, which offers diplomas in tourism.

However the new institute will provide a superior alternative and comes amid a projected 42 per cent increase in the need for tourism and hospitality services in Tanzania over the next five years.

It is expected that up to 90 students will graduate every two years with certification from Tanzania's Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) while the GAA plans that the institute will be financially self-sustaining after three years.

Located near major tourist sites such as Serengeti National park, Olduvai Gorge, Ngrongoro Crater and Mount Kilimanjaro, the institute will be well placed to serve the one of the country's most popular tourist areas. Last year 700,000 foreign visitors toured Tanzania, with 80 per cent of them spending the majority of their time in the Arusha region.