Tourism stakeholders take marketing to schools

Stakeholders in the tourism industry in Kenya, and their counterparts across the world, have partnered to promote tourism and travel in secondary schools in the country. Kenya Airways, Iberia Lineas Aereas Espanolas (Spanish airlines), Amadeus IT Group and Global Travel and Tourism Partnership (GTTP), have all united to promote online tourism education in schools across Kenya.
The organizations will play different roles in the partnership that will see 18 public secondary schools and village polytechnics across the country share 100 computers in the effort to promote tourism education. Amadeus, a Spanish company, has donated the computers to facilitate roll out of an online tourism curriculum. On the other hand, international air carriers Kenya Airways and Iberia have provided free air freight of the computers, from Madrid, Spain to Nairobi.
“The computers are being installed in 18 secondary schools that are participating in the GTTP-Kenya pilot program across 16 counties in the country,” said Joseph Okello, the director of GTTP- Kenya in a Press statement released on Wednesday in Nairobi. joint initiative by the travel industry players was developed under a framework of cooperation agreements between the organizations, to support sustainable development of tourism, through corporate social responsibility. GTTP Kenya supports development of the tourism industry locally through sensitization programmes in schools, workshops and discussions on the industry.
“This initiative facilitates GTTP’s objectives of using the travel and tourism studies to provide quality educational experience to teachers and students, with a strong link between business and public secondary schools, to help students make informed choices about future careers,” said Okello. He noted that in Kenya, there is no tourism curriculum in schools, which hinders the growth and development of the subject. “Tourism is only taught as a Geography lesson for only one week in the final year of high school under the local national curriculum. We believe there is an overwhelming need to teach tourism and travel at the secondary school level in Kenya and other countries. This would increase general public awareness especially of its positive impact and the role of the host community in the tourism systems,” said Okello.
Kenya Airways Managing Director Titus Naikuni said besides shipping the computers from Spain, they will also offer internship programmes to students. “We are committed to support Kenyan schools with this project. We will do more than providing transport for the equipment by granting internship and mentorship to participant students,” he said in the statement. Naikuni noted that the initiative is the right path in building fundamentals of the future of the travel industry specialists in the country.
Amadeus draws its donation from its Global PC Bank, set up to donate computer hardware towards social development projects. The company will also provide mentorship to participating students in the GTTP-Kenya program, as well as real-time industry information to students and teachers. “We are always keen to add value and be useful at the community level. We place the tourism sector at the core of our strategy because we know we can make a difference. We are convinced that travel and tourism is an excellent way for students to broaden their training horizons,” said Claes Berggren, General Manager, Amadeus East Africa.
Berggren further noted that the tourism industry in Kenya, and other parts of the world, offers a promising future for many students. “There are numerous careers in the sector, which is crucial for the Kenyan economy,” he said. Tourism is the biggest foreign exchange earner in Kenya. The country’s tourism earnings for the last six months hit 405 million U.S. dollars. However, little has been done to promote the multi-million dollar industry among students.
Amadeus is a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, with business operations in 195 countries. Among the schools to benefit include Star of the Sea, in Mombasa, Garissa Boys School in Northern Kenya, Moi Tea Girls, Kericho and Olympics High School, Nairobi. (Xinhua)