ZTA revives gradings for tourism entities

THE Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) will next year conduct a grading of tourism enterprises an exercise which has not been done in Zambia for the past 20 years, chief executive officer, Felix Chaila has disclosed.

Mr. Chaila said the agency is in the process of recruiting part time assessors who will be grading tourism enterprises according to international standards to make the sector more aligned with international standards.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr. Chaila said assessing and grading tourism sites would help the sector by attracting more tourists who would understand the services offered by a particular enterprise by the services offered.

“We are currently recruiting part time assessors who will be grading the accommodation establishments but before they can start the work they have to be trained and we have managed to obtain support from the South African grading council,” he said.

Mr. Chaila said the delegation from the South African grading council will come into the country this year for them to undertake the needs assessments study which will be able to ascertain the challenges in grading the enterprises and come up with an appropriate programme.

Mr. Chaila said the part time assessors who are currently being recruited will undergo training early next year and that ZTA will be able to undertake the pilot grading programme in the early months of 2018.

He said the grading of tourism enterprises was among the major projects ZTA would be working on next year, adding that he was optimistic that with the grading, they will promote the growth of the economy.