Pretoria - Tourism Deputy Minister Tokozile Xasa says South Africa will continue to invest in the required skills and capacity building to ensure the country’s expanding tourism industry remains vibrant.
The Deputy Minister was addressing the Reaching for Young Stars – One & Only event in Cape Town on Thursday. Talented chef students from top cookery schools compete for top honours in this prestigious competition held at the world renowned One & Only Hotel.
The Department of Tourism, in partnership with the South African Chefs Association (SACA), the International Hotel School, Silwood School of Cookery, and South African Chefs Academy School, runs the National Youth Chefs Training Programme -- through its Social Responsibility Implementation Programme -- to train young people in the culinary arts.
“To date, this unique partnership, which began in April 2011, enlisted 2 677 young people from all walks of life in all nine provinces.
“This programme ensures world-class service standards, promotes South African indigenous cuisine and at the same time, produces chefs who are able to compete with the best in the world,” Deputy Minister Xasa said.
She said tourism is going through a golden era and experiencing exceptional growth at this time.
The National Youth Chefs Training Programme is designed to provide students with both theoretical and practical training to eventually take their place as fully fledged chefs in the hospitality industry in South Africa.
The qualification earned through the programme is recognised by all cookery or food-related sectors, from small restaurants to large-scale hotels.
The qualification is also recognised internationally and to date, the programme has resulted in 712 learners securing permanent employment.
According to the latest Tourism Satellite Account as released by Statistics South Africa, the travel and tourism industry’s direct contribution to GDP was at R111 billion in 2014. Direct employment was at about 680 000 for the same period. – SAnews.gov.za
