Assessing the Effectiveness of Hotel Training Programmes in Developing Industry-Relevant Employability Competencies: Evidence from Arusha, Tanzania

Abstract

The hospitality industry requires a workforce capable of combining technical knowledge with communication, interpersonal, digital and professional competencies. However, concerns remain about whether hospitality training programmes adequately prepare graduates for contemporary hotel employment. This study examined perceptions of trainers, hotel employees and employers concerning the development of industry-relevant employability competencies through hotel training programmes in Arusha, Tanzania. The study adopted an interpretivist philosophy and qualitative case-study design. Data were collected from 24 purposively selected participants: 11 trainers from the National College of Tourism (NCT), Arusha Campus, and the VETA Hotel Training Institute; 10 employees who had graduated from the two institutions and were working in selected five-star hotels; and three hotel human-resource managers representing employers. Data were collected through focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke's approach.The findings indicate that employability is multidimensional, incorporating technical and operational competence, communication, customer service, problem-solving, digital competence, foreign-language proficiency, adaptability, teamwork and professional attitudes. Strong convergence across stakeholder groups revealed a persistent theory–practice gap. Academic qualifications were not consistently perceived as evidence of workplace competence, and employers reported that some graduates required additional training after recruitment. Practical training, internships, field attachment, role play, and workplace exposure were regarded as important mechanisms for developing readiness, although their implementation was constrained by inadequate facilities, equipment, technology, student numbers, and training capacity. Communication and English or foreign-language proficiency emerged as particularly persistent competency gaps. Stakeholders differed in how they explained these gaps: trainers emphasized institutional and resource constraints, employees highlighted both institutional weaknesses and graduate attitudes, while employers focused on demonstrated workplace performance and retraining costs. The two institutional cases experienced similar challenges but in different forms. VETA's principal constraint was practical-resource capacity, whereas NCT showed relatively stronger exposure to hotel systems while continuing to face language, soft-skills, and capacity challenges. The study concludes that the employability gap is systemic and requires more competency-based, experiential and industry-responsive hospitality education.