Attractive benefits
IN a bid to address the migration of skilled local workers, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced that all staff would be offered health insurance, life insurance, parental and birthday leave and a greater focus on professional development.
This is according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation’s draft 10-year National Sustainable Tourism Framework (NSTF) that was compiled following an extensive consultation with Fiji’s tourism industry stakeholders.
“Multiple tourism stakeholders have been vocal about the large number of tourism workers leaving for Australia and New Zealand. Industry stakeholders comment that although programs like the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALMS) generate good remittances for Fiji, they have also created a vacuum in the tourism industry,” the draft framework said.
“In response, regular onthe-job training and ongoing recruitment is required. The greater the time, effort and money going into training, the lower the spend on things that are core, causing a drop in service level. Trying to manage tourists’ expectations during peak periods in the industry is challenging given the lack of skilled hotel workers.
“To be truly resilient and sustainable, the pipeline of staff, upskilling and new methods of staff retention are needed within all sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry. Key industry players are examining employee retention strategies.”
The baseline assessment with stakeholders also concluded that the focus of future training must reorientate towards hospitality training and upskilling as a trade, rather than academic tourism studies.
“There is a need to educate the industry on this difference, as it is not well understood by policy makers, educational institutions, and the private sector.
“Growing the number of trained hospitality workers and opportunities requires trade certifications that are more accessible. There is a need to make vocational certification more attractive in terms of status, cost, and scholarships.
“Further analysis is required to understand whether government intervention via cheaper or subsidised courses to stimulate demand would address the skills gaps or whether there are other barriers, in addition to costs, that are not generating the pipeline of hospitality workers required by the industry.”
The NSTF draft said that currently, non-hotel hospitality training such as tour guides, transfers, travel agency and booking agent training only happend ‘on the job’ “with no formal training institutions nor courses available for upskilling and improving service in these sectors.
“This is particularly relevant for community-based operators who currently rely on ad hoc advice from the public sector, friends, family, and partners in the value chain, not all of whom are suited to providing business advisory services.
“Similarly, tourism entrepreneurship is not well supported or encouraged. As one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy there is a need for a more coherent strategy to support tourism entrepreneurs.”