Bali in need of more qualified tourism workers

Bali needs to improve the quality of its human resources in the tourism sector to be more competitive in anticipation of a flood of foreign workers into the island.

Bagus Sudibya, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association in Bali (GIPI), said that in many cases there was still a mismatch between the supply of workers from tourism schools and demand from the tourism market.

“Many local workers are still unable to cope with the fast-changing industry. Changes in the industry are not always followed in their training. That’s why the industry still needs to hire foreign workers in some special fields,” he said in a recent discussion.

He cited that international hotel chains in Bali still mostly hired foreigners for the top positions in their management.

“Three out of five international hotel chains in Bali are still led by foreigners. Only 30 percent of local workers are able to reach those positions, because they are still dominated by foreign workers.”

He predicted that Bali would see around 10,000 graduates from tourism schools every year, all of whom are ready to work in the industry. “As many of them are hired abroad, it is proof that they are actually competitive enough, but they still need to improve their competitiveness to be able to reach higher positions, not just take positions at the level of employee and supervisor, including in hotels and on cruise ships.”

Tourism schools needed to be able to improve their education quality to produce market-oriented workers, he said, including through certification.

“Certification is a must, not only for the workers, but also for the trainers who certify them. Training the trainers is important to ensure they are suitable for market demand.”

As ASEAN countries will implement regional labor market liberalization in 2015, there will be a free flow of workers among industries, including in tourism.

When the policy comes into effect, citizens of ASEAN will be able to work in any country in the region, as long as they have acquired the necessary qualifications to comply with work standards.

According to the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, currently only around 1.18 percent of 4 million tourism workers nationwide already held the appropriate certification.

As the certification process is still ongoing, supported by facilities and funding from the government, the ministry has set the target to certify at least 50,000 workers by the end of 2014.

I Nyoman Madiun, chairman of the Bali Tourism Institute in Nusa Dua (STP Nusa Dua), one of the biggest tourism schools in Bali, said that Bali had qualified human resources in the tourism sector, equal in competence with those from other countries.

An average of 450 students graduated from the school every year, all of whom had been certified and were ready to compete in the tourism industry, he said.

He added that the number of people enrolling at tourism schools in Bali tended to rise every year.

“This indicates that the tourism sector is getting more attractive, and there will be tougher competition among the human resources.”

He had a different opinion about career achievement, saying that many international hotel chains preferred to hire foreign workers rather than locals for communication and cultural reasons.

“It’s not a matter of competence. It’s just a way to ease their business. They prefer foreigners to make it easier to attract people from certain countries and to market their products and to maintain the customers,” he said.

He cited as an example that hotels preferred to hire westerners for the top positions to attract customers from western countries, because they have a similar culture and better understanding among them.

Sourced: thejakartapost