Interview with Mulemwa Moongwa
Governing Council Chairperson
Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies
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Mulemwa Moongwa
Governing Council Chairperson
Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies
Mulemwa Moongwa is a Certified Practitioner in Meetings Management and Event Design with over twenty years of experience in the events and tourism industry. Originally pursuing a legal career, she shifted paths at age 23 to start a party planning business, eventually managing large-scale government assignments and serving as an in-house planner for the Central Bank of Zambia through a German cooperation project. In 2024, she joined HelmsBriscoe as a MICE Buyer, pioneering this role in Zambia.
During the 2020 lockdown, Mulemwa co-founded the African Meetings Industry Roundtable, engaging major institutions like the African Union Commission and COMESA to highlight the MICE sector’s value. Her leadership and advocacy led to her appointment as Chairperson of the Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies (ZITHS), a statutory body under the Ministry of Tourism. Under her tenure, Zambia integrated travel and tourism education from early childhood to secondary school. In 2025, Meetings Today recognized her as an industry Trendsetter for her dedication to MICE education and advocacy.
What is ZITHS’s mission, and how does it translate into concrete outcomes for Zambia’s tourism and hospitality sector?
The ZITHS mission is to provide quality education in travel, hospitality and tourism to provide the market with job ready graduates.
Zambia has depended primarily on Agriculture and extractive practices such as mining for its economic sustenance. However, over the last decade we have seen an increase in the call for diversification due to the negative impacts of mining and the effects of climate change on agriculture. Tourism has been identified as a key sector in our quest for economic diversification leveraging our geo-postioning as well as the abundant natural attractions and unique cultural heritage.
In alignment to the guidance by the World Trade Organisation , “without the necessary knowledge resources, a destination’s attempt to build , maintain or manage its competitiveness is likely to be limited”, Zambia has put a premium on human development in tourism development.
ZITHS is burdened with developing Zambia’s most valuable asset, its people!
What training programs and certifications does the Institute currently offer, and which profiles are they aimed at (students, working professionals, executives, public sector)?
Currently ZITHS offers programmes that begin from Trade Certificate to Bachelors Degree. The majority of the programmes on offer lean heavily on hospitality such as housekeeping, front office management, hotel management, Food Production and generic tourism Management. ZITHS has been the learning partner for IATA for over a decade support the local travel market. In August 2025, ZITHS became the first International Congress and Conventions Association (ICCA) University partner on the African Continent.
The school targets all, we have entry level programmes with relaxed entry that provide individuals who have low literacy to obtain a vocational skill and be employable whilst at the same time targeting school leavers and in service staff from both public and private sector. ZITHS has existing agreements with the Zambia Air Force and the Zambia Army for ongoing CPD .
How does ZITHS ensure academic quality and the relevance of its curricula to the industry’s real needs (accreditations, curriculum review, faculty, internships/placements)?
ZITHS has been in existence since 1963 and was once the preferred learning provider in the region owing to the quality of its graduates. That reputation suffered along the way and the Institute is working its way back to endearment. In the past three years, we have continually involved industry (employers)to understand their needs in learners and job seekers, then work to meet those needs. Our current offering speaks to our responsiveness.
What outreach or consulting services does the Institute provide to companies, destinations, and public administrations (e.g., in-company training, applied research, service-standards design)?
In line with our mandate, we are focusing on Destination preparedness through capacity building, we provide learning for the Destination Frontline who are all non-tourism players. Immigration, Customs, Security, Municipalities , porters and transporters form part of our first impressions team as such we have designed programmes to improve their knowledge about how to interact and manage with visitors
What national and international partnerships does ZITHS maintain (with hotels, tour operators, universities, public bodies), and what tangible benefits have they delivered?
ZITHS has a long history dating back to 1963 an accredited TEVET learning centre, we are an Affiliate Member of the United Nations Tourism , the first International Congress and Conventions Association (ICCA) Uni Partner on the African Continent, established a working relationship with the renowned placement company Allian Abroad, a partner of the Diageo Products PLC Learning for Life programme and have an ongoing partnership agreement with Kenya Utali College.
ZITHS has proposed the establishment of a second campus in Livingstone which will be called the ZITHS Mukuni Campus in collaboration with the UN Tourism Academy poised as a regional centre of excellence for tourism and hospitality education. The above refers to only the recent and active relationships, ZITHS has a long history in hospitality education , historically providing learning and staffing for the entire SADC region, we are working to reclaim our position.
Under your leadership, what have been ZITHS’s main recent achievements, and what strategic challenges do you identify for the next 3–5 years?
When we were appointed to serve in the Governing Council , the Institute was struggling on various fronts, it will be a whole module in Organisational Development someday. We were coming on board during the first recovery season from the pandemic and so we decided to create a zero start line for ourselves. We engaged key stakeholders to understand the disconnect between the schools output and the demands of employers. Our graduates were deemed “not work ready” , we were face with our highest number of graduates unable to secure jobs whilst employers clearly had gaps.
Through various engagements , we established that although our graduates were deemed unfit, the skills and knowledge gaps are created in the school system K-12 where little or no content about our sector is provided thereby making any pipeline to the sector learning non existent. For almost eighteen months, we led various efforts that resulted in the inaugural integration of Travel and Tourism as a subject pathway in the Zambian school curriculum effective January 2025.
Further, we introduced the Travel, Hospitality and Tourism Education Summit in 2023 as a platform for constructive dialogue among educators, policy makers and employers to address the evident skills and knowledge gaps.
Our term of office will end at the end of 2025 and as the one that was at the helm in the transformative years of ZITHS, it may be a few years before we can celebrate the impact we brought, however, the critical issue that needs urgent attention is “Instructional Capacity” for travel, hospitality and tourism education.
How are you incorporating key themes such as digitalization, sustainability, accessibility, and soft skills into the Institute’s training and projects?
Through our membership status at UN Tourism, Zambia adopted the 2022 UN Tourism Education Guidelines as the tool for transformation, this relationship allows us access to the UN Tourism Library We are currently in the process of creating a digital classroom and have integrated a new Learning Management System.
The current strategic direction is to keep sustainability at the core of our actions.
In terms of inclusion, what programs or policies exist to promote the participation of women and young people in tourism and hospitality careers?
Our student population is primarily female as such we are focused now on trying to attract balanced classrooms. We have certificate programs that have flexible entry requirements designed to attract school dropouts and those with low literacy levels.
We are in conversation with TEVETA to introduce Recognition of Prior Learning, that will equip individuals that have experience but not tangible proof of competence in their various crafts. This initiative will empower youths and women who serve as waitron and housekeepers in various facilities.
Looking at Zambia as a destination, what value propositions does it offer today to global tourism (nature, culture, MICE, adventure, wellness, conservation), and which products are emerging?
Zambia is well endowed with a geographical landscape and natural sites that continually drive visitors from across the globe, it is a recognized tourist destination globally for leisure tourists and thrill seekers alike. Historically, Zambia and Lusaka in particular established as the meeting capital of Africa during the liberation struggle, resulting in our reputation as a hospitable populus.
Zambia reclassified tourism from a social to an economic sector in 1996, it was not until 2017 that it was earmarked as a key sector for diversification. Presently , there is increased efforts at harnessing the economic prowess of tourism and its subsectors.
There will never be a better time to visit or invest in Zambia’s tourism
Which initiatives do you consider priorities for improving the destination’s competitiveness (air connectivity, visas, infrastructure, talent development, service quality, marketing)?
The geo position of Zambia makes it an ideal regional hub of connectivity. Zambia is currently embarking on a robust product profiling and development exercise that will result in ease of packaging of the destination. From our perspective as ZITHS , capacity building for our Frontline will remain a priority
Finally, how can an investor, operator, or international institution collaborate with ZITHS and with Zambia’s tourism ecosystem to accelerate sustainable growth through 2030?
ZITHS has the ambition to become the leader in industry education by 2030, the role of education in tourism development post the pandemic affords us all the opportunity to invest in the most important asset in any destination, its people!
Dear Ms. Mulemwa Moongwa, We express our deepest gratitude for granting us your time and for sharing your experiences and insights as the head of the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Studies of Zambia. Your leadership, generosity, and commitment inspire and enrich our understanding of sustainable tourism, talent development, and the transformation of the sector.
From the Tourism and Society Think Tank, we reaffirm our strong interest in collaborating closely with you, with the Institute, and with the country of Zambia to develop and promote its extraordinary tourism potential. We look forward to building lasting partnerships that contribute to growth, educational excellence, and the international projection of the destination.
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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