Record attendance levels at this year's NTCE

The National Tourism Careers Expo (NTCE) experienced record attendance during the three days with over 18 000 visitors attending the interactive exhibition designed to showcase the exciting career opportunities available in tourism.

The NTCE, which  ran from 23-25 September 2011, is supported by National Department of Tourism,Department of Economic Development and Tourism KwaZulu-Natal and CATHSSETA (Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority), previously known as THETA. With this year’s theme being “Make it Happen” the expo is now in its third year and aims to drive South Africa’s National Tourism Sector Strategy’s goal of creating 225 000 tourism jobs by 2020, and ensuring there are sufficient numbers of skilled people to fill these positions.

During the expo popular highlights included:

• Chef CitrumKhumalo’s cooking demonstrations with learners being wowed by the Chef and his team of protégés as they shared advice on how to get ahead in the catering industry.
• Equally popular amongst the learners was the mixology zone where learners got to grips with the art of mixing non-alcoholic drinks under the guidance of a professional cocktail maker.
• Speakers Corner, where tourism entrepreneurs and industry experts shared their success stories, was also a hit amongst learners as they interacted directly with the speakers.
• A virtual classroom set up enabled learners to pick up useful information about searching for a job.
• Fifty private sector companies exhibited at the expo providing interactive, edutainment experiences for the learners and further showed their commitment to skills development by offering a number of bursaries, learnerships and internships to learners attending the expo.

Feedback from attendees:

Comments on the NTCE’s Facebook site confirm the expo’s success with learner, Londiwe Nqayi, saying “It was so much fun, eye opening and I got a lot of information that is going to kick start my career in tourism.”  Educator, Zama Mkhwanazi,commented, “It was well planned and also gave us a chance to do some sightseeing. We thank you and all the sponsors for coming together for a good cause.Change starts with you and to give a child a reason to dream and believe in their dreams means a lot. NTCE will always have a footprint and an impact in my heart.”
 

Over 400 educators attended tourism focussed educator workshops with three sessions being held each day of the expo. Topics like responsible tourism, entrepreneurship and service culture in tourism were covered by expert speakers from the industry.
Over 130 volunteers were recruited and trained to assist with the organisation and event management of the expo.
 

Why the expo is important: 

“We want people in tourism to be proud of being in the sector, and events like the NTCE are a wonderful showcase of the wide possibilities available to learners. As the partners of the expo, we are merely here to provide a platform of interaction and knowledge. We are thrilled to have been part of this extremely successfulevent and hope that each and every learners, unemployed youth and educator who attended has seized the opportunity to make it happen,” says the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa.
 

Next year:

The NTCE moves location every three years and provinces interested in hosting the next expo will be asked to bid.