- Gondwana Desert Collection/ News



		News 2005 News 14.03.05

New Courses for Newcomers to Tourism Services - 14.03.05
Therefore the Namibian Academy for Tourism and Hospitality (NATH) introduced heavily subsidized courses for previously disadvantaged Namibians who want to become a tour guide. NATH qualifications are officially approved. This enables more Namibians to attain the necessary qualifications for a career in tourism. By affording this opportunity, NATH complies with the tourism sector’s Charta for Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBEE). Tourism companies which enrol staffers for training have to pay for the study fees themselves.

The first course (Level I) was held in Swakopmund in early January, while the subsequent course (Level II) was offered in Windhoek in February. Both courses impart facts about Namibia, its nature and its people as well as appropriate ways of dealing with tourists. Participants who completed the second course with promising results were short-listed for the newly established 'Train the Trainer' programme which focuses on teaching methods. When candidates were selected a conscious effort was made to include members of all the different population groups. The programme aims at offering future courses for tourist guides country-wide in the language prevailing in a given area.

Proud 'Level II' tourist guides (from the left): August 'Jacky' Apriels (Cañon Roadhouse), Richard Jantjies, John Apriels and Nico Angula (Cañon Lodge).
Photo: Michaela Kanzler.

Staffers of the Gondwana Desert Collection were also enrolled for the new courses. Simon Andreas and Jacky Apriels (both at Cañon Roadhouse) successfully completed Level I. Jacky Apriels then joined John Apriels and Nico Angula (both at Cañon Lodge) to complete Level II. Richard Jantjies, tourist guide at Cañon Lodge, distinguished himself by qualifying for the 'Train the Trainer' programme in early March.


		- For more on the Gondwana training programme see: - Gondwana Concept/Training. - More about NATH: www.nathnamibia.com