• Zambia adds tourism to curriculum to align skills with job market
• Reform includes industry partnerships, new training and school tourism clubs
• Move targets youth unemployment, supports sector job and investment growth

Zambian authorities have taken a step to better align education with labor market needs, introducing tourism as a separate subject in the 2023 National School Curriculum Framework.

Speaking at the fourth Travel, Hospitality and Tourism Education Summit in Lusaka this week, Education Minister Douglas Munsaka Syakalima said the reform aims to equip secondary school students with practical skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

He said cooperation between the ministries of Education and Tourism, particularly through the Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies (ZITHS), is designed to ensure training reflects industry needs.

“This summit brings together education, industry and policy so that tourism growth translates into quality jobs,” he said, adding that tourism clubs will be introduced in schools and teacher training strengthened.

Infrastructure and partners mobilized

On infrastructure, authorities have allocated 160 hectares of land to ZITHS, where the Mukuni International Academy will be built in partnership with UN Tourism, the UN agency promoting sustainable tourism.

The initiative has also attracted major international partners. The International Labor Organization (ILO), represented by Chief Technical Advisor Todini Marecha, stressed the need for skills development to lead to decent, productive and sustainable jobs.

The European Union, through its Head of Cooperation Claudio Bacigalupi, reaffirmed its support via the ILO’s Skills Development for Increased Employability Program (SDEP).

The reform comes amid pressure in the labor market. Youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 stood at 10.47% in 2025, according to Statista. More broadly, 60% of the population lived below the poverty line in 2022, World Bank data shows.

Tourism is increasingly seen as a viable response. Tourism Minister Rodney Sikumba said the sector supported 156,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2025.

A World Bank Group report published in December 2024 identifies tourism as one of four priority sectors that could attract up to $21 billion in investment and create 80,000 additional formal jobs by 2030.

Félicien Houindo Lokossou