One area which is still seen as a major obstacle towards communal benefits from tourism is employment of local community members at tourism enterprises located in- and outside the Serengeti National Park. Managers of these tourism enterprises argue that employment of local community members is often not feasible because local community members are not
sufficiently trained. SNV Lake Zone Portfolio and IBDI conducted a study in 2008 focused on indentifying challenges and opportunities regarding pro poor tourism in the Mara Region. The study conducted by SNV and IBDI is called 'How can tourism benefit the poor, Case studies around Serengeti NP in Tanzania'. The study was based on the 7 mechanisms developed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) through which the poor can possibly benefit from tourism. Listed as mechanism number 1 is employment of the poor in the tourism industry.
The study indentified a lack of local employment in the tourism industry in the Mara Region in Tanzania. SNV Lake Zone Portfolio, hereafter referred to as SNV, is located in Mwanza and is the SNV department that is active in the Mara Region. IBDI is the abbreviation of Inter
Business Direction Inc. located in Musoma and is a private company that offers business advice and functions as a local capacity builder for SNV. In the report 'How can tourism benefit the poor, Case studies around Serengeti NP in Tanzania' it is estimated that only 20% of the 7000 people employed by the 65 tourism enterprises present in the Mara region come from local communities.
Another study confirmed the lack of local employment in the tourism industry. This was the Tourism Enterprise Mapping, commissioned by SNV and conducted by IBDI in 2010-2011. The Tourism Enterprise Mapping was done in response to the outcome of the study conducted in 2008 and was geared towards documenting the tourism industry present in the Mara Region, currently executed pro-poor tourism strategies by the tourism industry and financial traffic between the tourism industry and local communities.
In 2011 a stakeholder meeting on problems and opportunities regarding community development in the Serengeti District was held between stakeholders. This stakeholder meeting was given the name Forum Meeting. Present were representatives of multiple villages located in the Serengeti District, including the 5 Ikona WMA villages, the Ikona WMA, local government, Serengeti National Park Authority (SENAPA) and various NGO's active in the area. The aim of the Forum Meeting was to have the problems and opportunities regarding community development in the Serengeti District documented so that these could be handed over to the District Council of the Serengeti District to aid in good governance in the near future. The District Council is the highest level of local government in Tanzania and the Serengeti District is located within the Mara Region. The lack of local employment in the tourism industry was also one of the problems observed and documented during the Forum Meeting. SNV played an advisory role during the Forum Meeting (Damian, 2013).
According to Liya and Ally (2008) the tourism industry is willing to employ local community members if training and education levels were professional, indicating that the opportunity for local communities to benefit more from tourism is hampered by an identified lack of training and education, making community members less suitable to be employed by the tourism industry. SNV is now exploring the possibility of countering this problem by supporting communities in the Mara Region with facilitating and/or mediating the establishment of a
14 community tourism training college, but is uncertain if realizing this project idea is a feasible initiative.
The general assumption is that a community tourism training college, here after referred to as CTTC, will most likely improve the chances of local community members getting employed in the local tourism sector. Whether this is the case mainly depends on the qualifications
applicants are expected to have according to the tourism industry present in the Mara Region and if these qualifications can be achieved with an education offered at a CTTC.
This study is a follow-up research of the SNV study 'How can tourism benefit the poor; Case studies around the Serengeti NP in Tanzania'. The main goal of this feasibility study is to find out if the establishment of a CTTC in the Mara Region in Tanzania is feasible. Therefore the main research question is:
o Does the establishment of a CTTC qualify as a feasible solution to the indentified lack of local employment in the tourism industry in the Mara Region?
Because the time to conduct field work was limited, it was necessary to define research
priorities. Defining research priorities was done by asking the following question and using the answers to that question as to frame research sub questions:
" What does the CTTC absolutely need to have to be considered successful?"
This question formed the basis of this feasibility study and resulted in the following general requirements:
A. Stakeholder support; The CTTC needs to be supported by the stakeholders.
B. Goals and objectives; The CTTC needs to meet its goals and objectives, based on the needs and expectations of the stakeholders.
C. Management and ownership; The CTTC will need solid management and ownership to ensure sustainability.
Each general requirement imposes a series of questions which form the research sub questions of this study.
A. Stakeholder support;
• Is the establishment of a CTTC generally approved by the stakeholders?
• Are there any forms of committed support towards the establishment of a CTTC by the stakeholders, e.g. financial support, technical support, support in land acquisition or support in terms of labor?
15 B. Goals and objectives;
• What is the job availability in the tourism industry in the Mara Region?
• What kind of jobs in the tourism industry should a CTTC target?
• What level of education is needed to perform the jobs a CTTC should target?
• What level of pre-training is required to qualify for enrollment at a CTTC?
• What are the qualifications of the available local applicant pool?
• What amount of students should a CTTC be able to accommodate?
• What should be the location of a CTTC?
• What type of school should a CTTC be?
• What should be the curriculum offered at a CTTC?
• What should be different about a CTTC in regard to other tourism colleges?
C. Management and ownership;
• What resources are needed by a CTTC?
• What resources are available and in what form?
• Are there teachers available to teach at a CTTC?
• What are acceptable school fees?
• What is the economic sustainability of a CTTC?
• Will a CTTC have a negative impact on its natural and social environment?
• Who should have ownership of a CTTC?
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