The Chairman of Rwanda Hotels and Restaurant Association (RHRA), Dennis Karera, has called upon members of the hospitality industry to embrace English as a means of communication. He made this call while addressing students of Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC).He urged the students to not only sharpen their English but also their ICT skills in order to improve their work. “As service providers, it is very important that you easily reach other business partners in search of market opportunities. Internet is an important tool for this,” Karera said Karera is also the proprietor of Park View Apartments in Nyarutarama. Alex Bayingana, the owner of Alpha Palace Hotel in Remera, conceded that poor communication was one of the factors heavily affecting the industry. “We came up with a training session where heads of departments conduct training in order to see how our staff respond to customers’ needs,” he said. According to the CEO of Rwanda Development Board, John Gara, his organisation and the Private Sector Federation (PSF) are working to solve the various issues the hotel industry faces. “We have always advised the hoteliers’ body to come up with standard measures to be followed but we are also working with PSF to ensure that among others, the communication challenge is solved,” Gara said. He added that the latest development is that PSF has come up with a draft that stipulates requirements service providers must fulfil, such as the fact that staff must be able to speak English and French.
