HCIMA gets tough
By Business Reporter
THE Hotel and Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) is working towards the enactment of legislation which would compel hotel and lodge owners to employ only qualified managers.
HCIMA Zambia chapter chairperson, Dapson Mwendafilumba, has said standards prevailing in Zambia’s hospitality industry were pathetic and that the HCIMA was pushing for the enactment of a relevant Act to compel hotel and lodge owners to employ only qualified people.
HCIMA-Zambia, which is an affiliate of HCIMA-London, is also working with the Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) to revise the syllabus for the hospitality industry trainers in an effort to enhance standards.
Mr Mwendafilumba said in an interview that most hospitality establishments had engaged unqualified personnel who were lowering standards in the sector.
He attributed the poor standards to the rush for cheap labour among employers in the industry.
This Friday, HCIMA would be conducting a workshop and annual general meeting where different topics relating to professionalism would be discussed.
Mr Mwendafilumba, who is also Hostels Board of Zambia executive secretary, said HCIMA would like to ensure that professional standards were adhered to in the industry because it was directly related to tourism.
“Our association wants to see professional standards in the hospitality industry, wrong things are happening in these institutions where for instance unqualified chefs are employed who are doing wrong things, we have people being served with leftover food,” he said.
