South Africa sent 500 unemployed youth to learn the hospitality industry in Canada and U.S.A. with funding from the Development Bank of South Africa, according to a report in AllAfrica.

To reach its full potential, South Africa’s tourism industry must overcome an unskilled workforce that has hampered development within the sector, the report said.

Tourism was identified as one of six top priorities in South Africa’s New Growth Path for economic development and job creation. There is growing public concern about increased reliance on imported labor to fill local job positions in tourism that require skills, the report said.

South Africa exports young workers to the U.S. and Canada to learn hospitality.

The government partnered with the Ubuntu Institute, an economic development and entrepreneurship program, on international placements. They placed 500 unemployed South African youth in Canada and U.S.A. with funding from the Development Bank of South Africa. Another 500 young workers are expected to be placed this year. The goal is to make young people employable by providing them with much-needed work experience, according to the AllAfrica report.

The South African government trained 186 young people from Gauteng and the Western Cape as sommeliers.

Five hundred young people have graduated as chefs and 120 have been placed with hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants, the report said.