By Obakeng Maje
Taung- The North West Department of Economic Development, Environment Conservation and Tourism MEC Motlalepula Rosho will hand-over Taung Tusk to the department to be Taung Hotel School.

The event will take place on Wednesday at Taung Tusk and the department said the Hotel School will train and provide learners with a necessary skill to grow the economy of Taung and North West at large.

The hotel school will fall under the Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management (IHTM) which is a collective name of institutions that provide hospitality, tourism and conservation management and skills training in the North West Province under the auspices of the North West Parks and Tourism Board.

“Our institutions pride themselves in being among the leading institutions in the country that specializes in training future leaders in the sector” the department said.

The North West Parks and Tourism Board is one of the nine provincial tourism and conservation agencies in the country. It is only one of such agencies that have developed facilities to training people in a sector that is the fastest growing industry in the world.

The institutions are THETA Accredited and with Council for Higher Education (CHE) approved programmes offered in collaboration with institutions such as Centurion Academy, the City and Guilds of London etc.

We are in the process of expanding this network of collaboration and affiliation with international organizations and institutions such as, the Birmingham Institute of Tourism, Hospitality and the Creative Arts in the United Kingdom, the Tourism Institute of Singapore and the Hotelfachschule Belvoir Park of Zurich, Switzerland” the department said.

The institutions have over the years steadily gained a reputation as one of few such institutions in country with state of the art facilities.

The Hotel Schools Division (HSD) of the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWP&TB) consists of two schools: the Institute of Hotel & Tourism Management (IHTM) situated in Mafikeng and Ga-Rankuwa Hotel School (GHS) situated near Pretoria.

Now another Hotel School will be opened in the Greater Taung District of the Province.

The Taung Hotel School was suppose to open its doors to the first group of students back in January 2010.

The HSD operates under the auspices of North West Parks & Tourism Board Act, (Act 3 of 1997) said then plans were on foot for the institutions to function as autonomous institutions. They said this autonomy was supposed to be achieved by January 2010 or shortly thereafter.

Now the department said all plans are in place and the Taung Tusk will be handed over and be known as Taung Hotel School.

The launch was suppose to take place on Tuesday but due to president Jacob Zuma’s visit in the province, the matter was postponed for Wednesday.
“Department has postponed the Launch of the Taung Hotel School which was supposed to take place on 29 April 2014 due to President Jacob Zuma’s visit to the North West Province” departmental spokesperson Dumisa Seshabela said.

The launch has been rescheduled for Wednesday, 30th April 2014 at 10H00.
-TDN
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