Operators cry foul as levy swells to P2.3 million

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Thursday June 10, 2010 00:00

Reacting to DOT's announcement that the Tourism Industry Training Fund had risen to P2.3 million last year, sector players at this year's annual Tourism Pitso this week said the levy was falling short of its statutory objectives.

Introduced in 1999, tourism enterprises, except mekoro polers, are expected to pay a training levy of P2 per paying guest per day. The surcharge, which is commonly known as the tourism levy, is paid into the Fund through which DOT organises training for workers of contributing enterprises.

Operators reacted with shock at DOT's revelations that P650, 000 was spent on four training courses the Fund held last year, which attracted a total of 120 people. The courses, which were in areas such as customer care, lasted two weeks each.

Effectively, the operators argued, one person was trained for P5, 416 for two weeks, which they described as 'grossly exorbitant' for an industry suffering an acute shortage of skilled personnel. The skills include specialist qualifications for travel agents, professional guides and hunters, hospitality and catering qualifications, as well as general tourism-related abilities.

The Managing Director of Lamila Lodge, Edward Maloisi, said it was a paradox that the Fund was ballooning while the tourism industry was constrained by widespread skills shortages. 'The cake is getting bigger because it's not being eaten,' Maloisi said.

'DOT has not told us what they are going to do with that money. As it is, there are other institutions training our people and that's why when DOT says there's training, we don't send our people. Infact, we are going to ask for our money back.' Said another guesthouse operator: 'My business has been in operation for five-and-a-half years, but none of my people has been trained. We are just pouring money into a vessel with a hole because DOT says there are no institutions to train our people.'

A Khama Rhino Sanctuary official said the duration of the training available was insufficient, particularly when enterprises wished to develop skills such as accounting and administration.

Representatives of Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC), which conducts some of the courses, attributed the under-utilisation of the Fund to the reluctance of tour operators to release their workers for training courses.

'Another problem is low literacy levels,' said one BNPC official. 'It is difficult to upgrade some of the workers' skills due to this obstacle. Other hindrances are limited knowledge of the products and services being offered by their companies and ignorance of local tourism as a whole.'

In response, DOT Director Kelebaone Maselesele said the biggest hurdle was non-availability of training institutions and service providers. She said the department was previously forced to look across borders for training. 'We don't have any money piling up,' she said. 'It's only that it's been difficult to get suppliers of training and we have actually had to outsource this from outside the country.

'Last year, we actually engaged the Hospitality School of Cape Town. Also, non-attendance is a problem. Tourism enterprises are often unwilling to release workers during the peak season for just two weeks. They actually complain that we should not be taking their people away.'

On the cost-effectiveness of the training, Maselesele said the tourism levy was charged on tourists and not on operators of tourism enterprises. 'That money should not be part of the operators' monies,' she said. 'It's supposed to go straight to the government. We will put it to good use for those facilities that remit the levy to us.'

Other tourism players suggested that the balance of funds in the Training Fund be used to produce generic video advertisements for marketing Botswana in the media in prime markets such as the United States and Britain.