The Ronald Ngala Utalii College will officially open its doors on 1st September 2026 with a first batch of 1000 students.
Tourism Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said ongoing works at the Kilifi-based college are being fast-tracked in readiness for the admissions.
The opening of the college that will offer diploma and short-term courses in catering, hotel keeping, seafaring and refresher courses in management among other courses will boost quality training in the tourism sector.
“I can confirm that we are 95% ready to welcome the first cohort of 1000 students on the 1st of September. We have the necessary arrangements in place to make this a reality.”
The PS who was speaking on site said the College that sits on 40 acres will progressively expand its facilities to attain the 4000 admission capacity.
He regretted that the college that also boasts of facilities to host a tourist-class hotel and is designed as an advanced model of the Utalii College, Nairobi had taken over 12 years to operationalise.
He added that the Government was contemplating inviting an investor under public-private partnerships (PPP) to expedite the opening of the hotel that will also offer practical training to learners.
The opening of the college is expected to create at least 1000 direct and indirect jobs and boost the economy of the host community. It will also complement the Kenyan tourism sector drive to double the annual number of tourists into the country.
“We are committed to ensuring that we build capacity for tourism and hospitality. The opening will go a long way in ensuring that we meet our target of five million tourist by 2028,” the PS said.
Kilifi County Gideon Mung’aro said the opening of the college will be good news for job seekers eyeing the blue economy and who need relevant certification.
“We have had the issues as agents come here to recruit seafarers. The last time I had a big team who wanted 600 people but they went with only 59 due lack of certification” the Governor said.
The duo appealed to leaders to shun utterances that could harm the tourist industry.
“We urge leaders to weigh their words when they are talking about tourism as it is a very delicate product. What we’ve build in 10 years can be destroyed in a single day by a reckless statement,” said the governor.
