By Mariatou Ngum
The Director General of The Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute (GTHI) Mr. Daouda Niang, in an interview with Gambia Daily said the institution has progressively matured under the leadership of Hon. Hamat Bah, Minister of Tourism and Culture.
Mr. Niang said their monthly subvention from the government has significantly increased, which allows them to create more employment opportunities as well as retain their staff with better remuneration packages.
‘’For the first time in the history of the institution, we have for the past four years been receiving a development support from government to renovate our facilities and equipment to ensure quality teaching and learning for our students,’’ he revealed.
For the purpose of widening the scope of their training and respond adequately to skill gaps in the sector, Niang said a fully equipped bakery and pastry centre with a capacity to train 100 bakers and pastry cooks every year was established in 2021. He added that a digital library with volumes of reading materials was established in 2021 through the development support from government for students and instructors.
In all the two periodic reviews of the NDP made so far, the Tourism and Culture sector has come out as the best performing sector as far as the goals of the NDP are concern. Mr. Niang said GTHI contributed greatly to achieving this success.
‘’With support from the government through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the GTHI has over the last four years doubled its annual intake of 200 to 400 students, creating more employment opportunities for a growing tourism sector. The GTHI has contributed in spreading the tourism opportunities to the Regions since 2018 with the establishment of training annexes in Central River, North Bank and Lower River Regions, where 180 youths were trained on hospitality skills. In 2021, The GTHI has started rolling out another training program on hospitality and bakery skills for 150 youths in West Coast and Upper River Regions,’’ he explained.
The institution was initially called Gambia Hotel School but later changed to Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute. The director stated that a lot has changed since then. He said the initial mandate was to offer training for new entrants to the hospitality industry in four disciplines: Front Office and Reception, Housekeeping and Laundry, Cookery and Pastry and Bar and Restaurant services.
‘’In 2009 the Hotel School started a new transformation programme which was intended to raise its status and profile to the highest possible level of international standards. This development effort was facilitated through a great investment in Infrastructure (buildings), equipment and material with support from the Spanish Agency of Cooperation and Development and the World Bank under the strategic impulse of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of The Gambia. The investment was completed in January 2012 but full operations started in January 2013,’’ he explained.
The GTHI graduates 400 students annually and 95% of them secure employment upon completion. The institution has been training both Gambians and foreigners over the years and their students are serving in almost all the hotels and restaurants in the country.