CHAPTER 6
RECOMMENDATIONS
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
INTRODUCTION
The study of the education and training needs of the Caribbean tourism industry has
produced a wealth of information, not only on the training needs of the industry, but on how the
industry manages its human resources in general. The study provides important and revealing
information about the average age of the tourism workforce in the Region, the gender
breakdown, the percentage of full-time and part-time employees and training and development
practices in the industry. The study is valuable both for what it says about human resource
management and development in the industry as for what it does not say. Given the fact that
very little baseline data on human resource development in the tourism industry existed prior to
this study it provided a benchmark for future studies.
The wealth of information generated by the study also vindicates the use of the combination
of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. We believe that, notwithstanding the
research challenges experienced, the results of the study are representative of the industry in the
Region and, therefore, the conclusions and recommendations can apply to the industry as a
whole.
The following recommendations are designed to address the critical skills deficiencies found
in the study as well as the other critical issues impacting human resource management and
development in the industry. Some of these initiatives are already in motion at national, subregional and regional levels but need to be re-emphasized.
GENERAL TRAINING NEEDS
The general training needs identified across staff categories in this study were:
♦ Customer relations
♦ Communication
♦ Computer literacy
♦ Foreign languages (esp. Spanish, French, German, English)
♦ Marketing
♦ Leadership
♦ Human resource management
♦ Financial/accounting skills.
These needs represent a combination of interpersonal skills, managerial competencies and
technological skills. The following recommendations are made to address these critical skills
deficiencies.
1.
Interpersonal Skills
There is an urgent need for interpersonal skills training in customer relations and
communication. These skills are essential for quality customer service – which is what the
tourism industry is all about. As international competitiveness increases, quality service will
become a greater competitive advantage. Those destinations and establishments that deliver
quality service will have that competitive advantage. The appropriate service attitude and
behaviour and the interpersonal and communication skills that go with them are crucial to
quality service.
Training modules (1-3 days) should be developed to address these needs that are in great
demand at all staff levels in the industry. These modules should be designed for delivery inhouse by in-house or external trainers. It must be stated, however, that organizations must
make a greater effort to select staff with good interpersonal skills in the first place.
1
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
Management and supervisory training should also be designed to help managers and
supervisors to select, train, motivate, coach and counsel employees to deliver quality
customer service.
2.
Management and Supervisory Training
There is a critical need for owners, managers and supervisors in the industry to develop
contemporary management competencies like marketing, leadership, human resource
management and financial management. Front-line supervisors are an important linchpin in
the industry and owners and managers drive the process. Modular short (3-5-day)
programmes in management development and basic supervision should be developed for inhouse or external delivery by in-house or external trainers. They should also be developed to
be delivered sub-regionally, regionally and in distance learning mode.
These programmes should cover the fundamentals of management and supervision such as
leadership, motivation, communication, human relations and human resource management,
financial management, planning and scheduling; plus contemporary management
competencies like teambuilding, consensus and commitment-building, empowerment,
diversity awareness, quality management and change management. Different modules can
be developed for different competency levels.
3.
Computer Literacy
There is a great demand for computer technology skills at the managerial, professional and
skilled/semi-skilled levels. As information technology becomes more pervasive in the
regional tourism industry, this demand will increase. Programmes on the use of computer
technology in the tourism industry should be developed for different levels of competence
and delivered locally and regionally.
These programmes should include personal
productivity tools training (word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, etc), but should also
include specific technology uses in the industry (e.g., hotel and travel reservations systems;
management information systems/information technology uses in finance and accounting,
operations and human resource management; Internet and multi-media uses in marketing
and promotion).
4.
Foreign Language Training
Specific training modules in conversational language communication should be developed
and made available to those countries indicating a need. Specifically, modules in
conversational Spanish, French, German and English for tourism should be developed.
These programmes should be developed and resourced in conjunction with existing
language institutions and educators in the respective countries.
5.
Marketing
There is a specific need for marketing training for owners and managers of small and
medium-sized enterprises. Programmes in both basic and advanced tourism marketing,
including Internet marketing, should be developed in conjunction with local and regional
tourism training institutions. These programmes should cater primarily to small and
medium-size operations as the larger operations tend to have a well-developed marketing
system outside of the Region.
2
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
TECHNICAL TRAINING NEEDS
The major current and future technical training needs identified in this study were:
♦ Culinary skills
♦ Tour guiding
♦ Food & beverage service skills
♦ Maintenance-related skills
The following recommendations are made to address these technical skills deficiencies.
6.
Culinary Skills
Culinary skills training, and, in particular, chef training, remain the most critical technical
skills deficiency in the Caribbean tourism industry. Throughout the Region, there is an acute
shortage of chefs and persons trained in the culinary arts and sciences. Nor do the local and
regional training institutions appear to be able to fill the gap. An assessment of the
capabilities of regional training institutions to deliver culinary skills and chef training shows
that their emphasis tends either to be on the lower level “cooking” and service skills or on
higher level food & beverage management.
Training programmes should be developed, expanded and upgraded to deliver culinary
skills and chef training locally, sub-regionally and regionally. These programmes should be
conducted as joint ventures between the local and regional training institutions and the
industry. Industry/institution apprenticeship and day-release programmes would facilitate
this process.
7.
Tour Guide Training
Short (5-day) courses in tour guiding should continue to be offered on a regional basis. As
adventure tourism and tour operations become more popular in the Region, the demand for
professional tour guides will increase. Tourism training institutions, which have not
traditionally offered tour operations and tour guide training, should begin to develop
appropriate programmes and courses to cater to this growth area in Caribbean tourism.
8.
Food & Beverage Service Skills
Because of the importance of the food and beverage sector to Caribbean tourism, food &
beverage service skills training tends to be required on an on-going basis. Much of this
training is done in-house by owners and managers. In response to this continuing demand
and the tendency for this type of training to be done in-house, modular “packaged” training
courses in the basics of bartending, waiting and general food & beverage service should be
developed for delivery by owners, managers, supervisors and in-house trainers. The
“training packages” should be developed in a way that would allow these trainers to include
their establishment’s own service requirements in the training. Much of this training can also
be done in conjunction with local and regional training institutions, which already offer a lot
of training in the food & beverage service area.
9.
Maintenance Training
Organizations in this survey identified a range of maintenance-related training needs. These
included hotel engineering and technical maintenance, water sport equipment maintenance
and grounds maintenance. Since this kind of training has not traditionally been offered in
tourism training institutions, it is recommended that these institutions partner with existing
local technical/vocational institutions to offer tourism-related maintenance training. This
should be a more appropriate use of resources on the part of the tourism institutions than
3
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
attempting to provide the training themselves. At the same time, the need should not be
ignored as it represents a genuine deficiency in the industry.
OTHER TRAINING NEEDS
The recommendations in this section come from implied, rather than stated, training needs
coming out of the study.
10. Train the Trainer
Train the Trainer courses should be offered for all owners, managers, supervisors and inhouse trainers, who do the majority of the training in the industry. Special attention should
be paid to on-the-job-training as this is the most widely used training methodology in the
industry. Several “Train the Trainer” programmes exist in the Region and it should not be
necessary to “re-invent the wheel”, but to update and customize existing programmes for the
tourism industry. For example, the Caribbean Hotel Association has developed a Certified
Caribbean Hospitality Trainers programme which can be used to certify trainers in the
hospitality sector and/or can be expanded to include the entire tourism industry. Given the
widespread preference for in-house training, the option of training in-house trainers may be
the most viable and cost-effective approach to improving training in the industry.
11. Distance Learning
Given the geographically dispersed nature of the Caribbean, new and emerging technologies
should be used to bring training to the industry rather than bringing the industry to the
training. For example, Internet technology can be used to deliver in part or in whole, many
of the training modules and courses recommended in this chapter. With the increased use of
information and communication technologies, access to distance learning opportunities will
also increase. This could give industry workers the opportunity to learn “anywhere and
anytime” and at ever-reducing cost as the technology reduces. Local and regional training
institutions can also be used as on-site training and assessment centres for centrallycoordinated training and certification programmes.
Alternatively, or in addition, a cadre of regional trainers can be trained to deliver the training
programmes recommended here throughout the Region.
12. Funding for Training
Strategies must be identified, through governments, private sector organizations and
regional and international funding agencies, to subsidize the cost of training so as to make it
more affordable, especially for the small and medium-sized operations, which make up the
bulk of the industry. These organizations should work together to maximize the
effectiveness of funding for training and to avoid unnecessary overlap and duplication of
effort. In this regard, the CTO and its recently formed Human Resource Council could be the
regional coordinating body for public and private sector initiatives for funding for tourism
training.
13. Importance of Human Resource Development
Local and regional organizations and institutions like the CTO, NTOs, tourism associations
and tourism training institutions, should mount an aggressive marketing campaign to
sensitize industry operators to the critical importance of human resource development for the
development of their own businesses and of regional tourism in general. The development
of training plans and programmes by themselves will not improve Caribbean tourism unless
industry operators recognize and accept the importance of training in the first place.
4
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are designed to improve human resource development in
the Caribbean tourism industry in particular and the industry in general.
1.
Early Exposure To Tourism
Given the importance of tourism to the economies of the Caribbean, there is a need for
Caribbean nationals to get early exposure to tourism – from the primary education level.
Tourism curricula must be developed for the primary and secondary school systems. This
recommendation has been made before but remains to be implemented on a regional scale.
Countries that have begun the process should be used as benchmarks for those that have not
yet started.
2.
Continuous Public Awareness/Education
There is a need for continuous public awareness and education programmes to sensitize
Caribbean nationals to the important role played by tourism in their national economies and
their own role in its development. These programmes should make full use of the electronic
media to disseminate the information and should showcase local and regional success stories
with whom individuals can identify. These programmes should be run jointly by public and
private sector organizations so as to maximize impact. Public relations, marketing and
advertising skills will be required for these initiatives. Again, several countries in the Region
have such programmes which others may benchmark. The CTO should act as a
clearinghouse for information or contacts on these programmes.
3.
Institutional Strengthening for National Tourism Organizations
From focus group sessions and the research challenges identified in this study, a major need
has been identified for the various public sector or quasi-public sector NTOs (boards of
tourism, tourism authorities, tourism development companies, etc.) to engage in
“institutional strengthening” activities designed to enhance their ability and capacity to lead
and manage their respective countries’ tourism drives. In some countries, there appears to be
a “credibility gap” between the public and the private sectors, which sometimes results in a
communication and cooperation gap. This is not healthy for the industry as its development
requires that all major stakeholders work together for its betterment. Some NTOs in the
Region are already engaged in institutional strengthening exercises.
4.
Standardization and Certification For All Occupations In Tourism
There is a need to standardize all occupations in tourism and certify job holders so as to raise
the level of service delivery in the Region. This exercise has begun in some countries, but
needs to be expanded to the entire Region and to encompass all sectors of the industry. The
development of occupational standards and certification will assist immensely with the
development of training and education programmes, resulting in more effective, relevant and
consistent training. This is a massive exercise requiring a great deal of time and money as it
will seek to standardize and certify all industry occupations while, at the same time, allowing
for changes in standards as technology and work methods improve. It is recommended that
this exercise begin in the major sectors of accommodation and food and beverage, which can
then be used as a model for the other sectors of the industry.
5.
Owners/Managers Need Training
There is an urgent need to develop, sell and deliver business and management training, as
identified above, to the many small and medium-sized enterprise owners and managers in
the industry. A major challenge in this process is selling the need for training to these owners
5
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
and managers who either believe that they don’t need training or that they do not have the
time. The latter may, indeed, be the case as many of these owners have to shut down their
operations when thy are not around. With this in mind, creative training strategies need to
be adopted for this group. For example, training should be offered in the “off season” when
business is slow; half-day or one-day programmes could be designed so that the owners and
managers are not away from their establishments for extended periods of time; distance
learning can be used so that they can train themselves on their own time.
6.
Tourism as a Career
Tourism operations need to promote and develop tourism as a viable career option both for
potential entrants into the industry and for persons already in the industry – many of whom
see tourism in the Caribbean as a transitory job rather than a career. The needs assessment
study found that the industry has a relatively young workforce, with over 70% of the
workers under 40 years old. This is a good sign for the industry as it suggests that workers
could spend many productive years in the industry, during which time they can receive
continuous training, certification and credentialling and make a career in the industry. The
potential downside of this is that the industry will have to find ways to train, retain and
motivate this young workforce by providing adequate compensation, incentives and training
and promotion opportunities. Given the fact that the majority of establishments in the
industry are small or medium-sized family-owned operations, career opportunities are
limited and there may be little incentive or motivation for these establishments to develop
career opportunities and paths for their workforce. Programmes in entrepreneurship and
small business management for the tourism industry should, therefore, be developed to
provide workers with career options outside of their immediate place of work.
7.
Benchmark “Best in the Region”
As previously stated, Caribbean countries should benchmark the Region’s best practices in
human resource development so as to learn from each other and avoid “reinventing the
wheel” or making the same mistakes. In this regard, the CTO should establish itself as a
clearinghouse of information on human resource development in the Region and beyond.
8.
Coordination of Tourism Activities in the Region
Tourism activities in the Region need to be better coordinated so as to reduce the possibility
of duplication of effort, overuse and inefficient use of limited resources and overlap of
activities. Again, the CTO should be the focal point for all major local and regional tourismrelated human resource development initiatives.
9.
“Smart Partnerships” and Strategic Alliances
The Caribbean tourism industry needs to foster and develop “smart partnerships” and
strategic alliances among industry, government, education, and labour in the Region to foster
and promote tourism and to take tourism education and training into the next millennium.
The CTO Human Resource Council could facilitate this process.
10. Holistic Approach to Human Resource Development
Perhaps most importantly, the tourism industry needs to develop a “holistic,” “systems”
approach to human resource development, that includes the proper recruitment and
selection of people for the industry, the appropriate compensation of people in the industry,
the use of contemporary management approaches like teamwork, participative leadership,
empowerment, continuous learning. Tourism training and education alone will not solve
performance problems if people are not properly selected for the industry, if compensation is
perceived to be low, if management styles are archaic, if employees see no viable future in
tourism and if the Region has a poor perception of tourism. There is need for a total
6
CHAPTER 6 - RECOMMENDATIONS
Tourism Training for the New Millennium
“systems” view of tourism education and training that places it in the wider context of
human resource management and tourism development and does not necessarily see it as a
panacea for all performance ills.
IMPLEMENTATION
Several of these recommendations have been made in previous reports, but some remain to
be implemented while others are in their early stages of implementation. What is required is the
will and a mechanism or structure to make them happen. It is recommended that the CTO and
its recently formed Human Resource Council be the mechanism by which these
recommendations, once accepted, can be implemented, monitored and evaluated on an on-going
basis.
However, all public and private sector stakeholders must work together for the
sustainable development of Caribbean tourism.
7