Hotel school plans for coast

A ground breaking coastal resort and a large hotel training school are being planned for the Tinley Manor Southbank development by the Tongaat Hulett group.

Up to 1 000 students could be accommodated at the school, which will specialise in preparing graduates for the growing hotel and hospitality industry on the North Coast and the rest of the country, as well as further into Africa.

The Southbank development stretches over 480 hectares between the N2 and the sea, with the Umhlali River on its northern border, which the Courier reported on in May, is in the process of finalising environmental studies.

What is being planned is a village that will be open to the public, with residential and commercial components, and particular emphasis on green space and possibly even small agricultural enterprises.

Tongaat Hulett (TH) has partnered with Trade and Investment KZN and Tourism KZN to find a hotel group willing to invest in a development on one of the beachfront nodes.

TH business development manager Trenley Tilbrook said the steering committee was appointing specialists to explore the hotel and training school concept.

The school will prepare the quality of staff hotels and restaurants have been demanding increasingly as the tourism sector grows on the North Coast. Training will also increase the chances of landing a decent job. With unemployment levels at 40% countrywide, as many as 70% of young people are unable to find jobs in the formal sector.

“Tourism and training are now very much at the forefront of Tongaat Hulett’s thinking nowadays. There is a desperate need to create sustainable jobs, particularly in this sector.”

TH is partnering with a hotel training academy in the Seychelles, which is already established with 600 students, to set up the Tinley Manor school. Seychelles has partnerships with tourism operators in several southern African countries, including Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland, and in Europe.

The plan is to have an exchange system whereby students would train and work in participating countries. Students would spend three years training at their home school, then one year abroad.

“There are 150 new hotels planned for development throughout Africa in the near future, so we would be well placed to service the African hospitality market,” said Tilbrook.

Asked about the time frame for the school and resort development, Tilbrook said they were keen to start building within 12 to 24 months.

Plans for the Southbank project would include the building of a new traffic interchange on the N2, in the region of the Sheffield-Tinley Manor Station road (MR228), and a road parallel to the N2 to service the development.