Mr Victor Kayode, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Hotel and Catering Institute (NHCI), on Tuesday called for the establishment of hotel finishing schools where experts in the hospitality industry could be finally groomed for improved service delivery.
Kayode made the call during the 17th AKWAABA Africa Travel and Tourism Market held in Lagos.
He said the hotel finishing school would be designed to accommodate graduates of hospitality management who would undergo practical studies of the profession to become experts.
According to him, graduates of hospitality management in Nigeria are not doing well at the work place, lacking the required skills to compete favourably with their colleagues in the developed countries.
He explained that just like the lawyers after 5 years in the University go to law school where they become experts and the medical doctors undergo one-year houseman ship, the hospitality industry also needed a hotel finishing school.
According to him, the hospitality industry needed the hotel finishing school to tackle the problem of unprofessional-ism, quackery in the industry and encourage embracing global best practices.
“Hoteliers must come together to establish a hotel finishing school where graduates of hospitality management could be further trained to become experts.
“The school will focus on intensive practical training for the graduates to understand the technicalities of the hospitality industry.
“It is unfortunate that currently, 80 per cent of the workforce in the hospitality industry do not have the conceptual understanding of the industry, finding it difficult to excel.
“The hospitality industry is not a comfort zone because practitioners are consistently meant to satisfy people, it is a call to service, this and a whole lot the practitioners in the industry do not know.
“It is an industry that requires patience and perseverance for an individual to succeed,” he said.
Kayode noted that over zealousness on the path of the leader, leader and staff distance, lack of time management and more were factors that lead to failure in the hospitality industry.
Also, Alhaji Aliu Badaki, First Deputy President, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), said that for the hospitality industry to be properly sanitised, hospitality workers must undergo training on all aspects of the hospitality value chain.
Badaki said a hotel manager must be knowledgeable well enough to be able to work as a Housekeeper, a Caterer, a Customer Relations Officer and all. (NAN)
