Kenya Utalii College

Kenya Utalii College is the government's hospitality and tourism training college, with its main campus off Thika Road in Utalii ward, beside the Utalii Hotel. It opened in 1975 under the old Hotels and Restaurants Act and now falls under the Tourism Act of 2011, with a second campus in Kisumu. The college says more than 60,000 people from Kenya and abroad have trained there. Courses run at certificate and diploma level in two groups: hospitality (hospitality management, culinary arts, food and beverage, front office, housekeeping and laundry) and tourism (travel and tourism management, tour guiding, travel and tour operations), alongside short and refresher courses for people already working in the industry. Students practise in a demonstration restaurant and at the Utalii Hotel, an operating hotel used for training, and spend about three months on placement in Kenyan hotels. The learning resource centre, opened in its own building in 1994, seats about 300 readers. The college is a member of EUHOFA, the international association of hotel schools, an affiliate member of UN Tourism, an IATA training centre and the secretariat of the Association of Hospitality and Tourism Schools in Africa. Its motto is Utumishi na Ukarimu (service and hospitality).