1 Tourism Industry: Emplyoment and Labour market challenges Prague June, 2009 by Dr. Wolfgang Weinz, ILO Trends in the Tourism Labour Market

2 ILO a tripartite UN agency The ILO is the only 'tripartite' United Nations agency that jointly shape policies and programmes. Governments Workers Employers ILO

3 Tourism global dimension on development and employment o Travel and Tourism account for 10.3 % of global GDP and the tendency is growing. o One job in the core tourism industry creates roughly one and a half additional (indirect) jobs in the tourism related economy.

4 Tourism a major driver of development and employment The travel and tourism economy creates (directly and indirectly) more than 230 million jobs, which represent some 8% of the global workforce. Women make up between 60 and 70% of the labour force and half of the workers are age 25 or under. Tourism is one of the major export sectors of poor countries And the leading source of foreign exchange in 46 of 49 least developed countries.

Labour and Tourism Tourism is one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the global economy. Tourism is a labour- intensive interface between workers and customers and a quality driven service profession. Tourism has a huge potential on job creation for young and female workers and can contribute inter-sectorally to poverty reduction. Tourism provides employment to workers with little or no formal training. 5

BUT Attractiveness of tourism employment is low, even in countries with high youth unemployment rates due to: Bad image of the jobs Poor working conditions Lack of social dialogue 6

Labour Reality in Tourism Working conditions in tourism are largely characterized by : Irregular working hours a-typical forms of employment such as on-call or undesired part time employment temporary casual and seasonal employment comparati vely low pay little job stability poor career prospects 7

Labour Reality& Consequences 8 Difficult working conditions contribute to high staff turnover High staff turnover is cost affective and has impact on Productivity, competitiveness and service quality

What makes Service productive? Skills Professional, technical qualification 20% Motivation, Loyalty, passion Commitment, soft skills 80% 9

Labour needs in tourism Develop and improve a sustainable labour market environment through: Ratify/Implement ILO Convention 172 on Working Conditions in Hotels and Restaurants (Recommendation 179, 1991) Training and development of workers skills with job career perspective Social dialogue at all levels as an important tool to meet the challenges and the prospects of tourism industry 10

11 1. Freedom 2. Employment promotion and Enterprise development 3. Social protection 4. Human dignity Decent and productive work Decent Work A four pillar approach 1 Standards and Rights at work 4. Social Dialogue

ILO tools (recently) Guide for Social Dialogue in the tourism industry Guide for Social Dialogue in the tourism industry Reducing poverty through tourism Reducing poverty through tourism Study review of socially responsible HR and labour relations practice in international hotel chains Study review of socially responsible HR and labour relations practice in international hotel chains Training program on OSH in tourism Training program on OSH in tourism 12

13 Social Dialogue Investment in Sustainable Tourism All these initiatives and instruments may be seen as tools to improve the social dialogue policy and practice in a sector where institutionalised management-labour relations are still not a common feature. All these initiatives and instruments may be seen as tools to improve the social dialogue policy and practice in a sector where institutionalised management-labour relations are still not a common feature.

Meet the Needs “From cooperate philanthropy and social investment to proper corporate governance and transparency, these have become de rigueur for companies that desire to carry their brands into the future. There is no turning back on these issues.” World Economic Forum: The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2008 World Economic Forum: The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report,

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