Staffing crisis in leisure sector
View(s):In another section of the Business Times today is a report on a staffing crisis in the hotel industry.
Industry officials point out that not only is there a problem of a lack of professional staff but the issues are surmounting with the right kind of staff that is required in the post-war development of the tourism sector.
The shortage of a professionally-trained staff to cater to today’s requirements is a problem confronting an industry that has moved from 14,793 rooms in 256 hotels in pre-war 2008 to 16,223 rooms and 279 hotels in 2013. By 2015-16, the industry is set to have a total of 42,840 rooms to cater to 2.5 million arrivals in 2016.
All this means more staff, better quality staff and retaining staff. Veteran hotelier Chandra Mohotti points out that not just buildings but the right training for the hotel staff is key for the industry to grow.
This view, commonly held in the industry, implies that infrastructure alone will not propel Sri Lanka to a ‘must-visit” destination: This has to be complemented by the quality and high standards of service.
In recent times, the industry has been concerned over a drop in standards in hotels and allied sectors like restaurants, serving particularly foreign visitors.
On the other hand, there is also an exodus overseas compared to the reverse migration situation soon after the end of the war when many Sri Lankan industry professionals returned home.
“It appears that we are daily opening hotels but there is no experience staff,” noted one industry professional.
Tourism is one of the biggest post-war developments the country has seen and the Government is banking on this sector to generate jobs, foreign exchange and state revenue.
However while roadmaps and development plans speak of increasing hotels and rooms and new resort areas for investment, there is little discussion on human resources and improving standards. The development is akin to the idiom ‘Bull in a China shop” wherein there is more and more physical infrastructure without attention paid to other, important areas.
For example, where is the trademark “Sri Lankan smile’ that local tourism should be branding itself with? That is the best asset the country has.
The first point of contact at the airport is immigration: how many officers are trained to smile – and smile from the heart? The ‘Sri Lankan smile’ even at upmarket hotels is an artificial one (check out the doorman the next time at a hotel), just like air hostesses on a short haul flight running up and down the aisle serving meals, spilling some in the process and no apologies mind you!
Some years back, when the Government first decided to fast-track tourism, the question was raised in some sections as to whether Sri Lanka would face a food crisis in feeding 2.5 million visitors (by 2016) from less than 500,000 in 2008. Did the authorities have a plan to increase local food production to cater to both a 20 million population and 2.5 million foreign visitors, was the question which still remains unanswered. Importing more food means additional foreign exchange or relying on the same level of local production puts pressure on demand and would trigger inflation.
At different levels, Sri Lanka’s service standards should reflect warmth in all areas covering the visitor – airports, hotels, transportation, shops, etc.
While Sri Lanka has an abundance of attractions, a high standard of service with warmth, a smile and professional staff will go a long in providing that edge in competing with many countries in the region to attract huge generating markets like India and China.
Another aspect that little attention has been paid to is the study of languages to fit the profile of visitors that Sri Lanka is now seeking to attract – Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Arabs and Russians.
Many years ago when tourism started to grow in the 1970s, there were private hotel institutes that taught German and French targeting potential job seekers in the hotel industry.
That trend continued for many years and quite a few front office staff began gaining competency in these languages. Fast forward that to 2013-14 when tourism is dominated by India (compared to Britain, Germany or France many years back) and emerging markets like China, the Middle East or Russia: Are hotel staff or potential job seekers to the sector learning Hindi, Tamil, Mandarin, Korean, or Arabic? One of the complaints by Chinese operators is the lack of Chinese-speaking staff at different levels – airports (including boards), hotels, restaurants and shops.
The Maldives for instance, where China is the biggest source market, has Chinese-language speakers and staff competent in Russian and other languages, in most resorts.
It is not too late for a round-table discussion by all stakeholders in the industry to come up with a fast-track game plan to tackle these issues – outside hotels, rooms and other physical infrastructure – in which Sri Lanka needs to build on to make this a ‘must-see’ destination in Asia.