Skills for tourism
The tourism industry is experiencing a skills gap and as it grows, a sector-wide solution must be found to address the emerging need, writes Ursula Quinn
The recent release of the Northern Ireland tourism statistics must be encouraging for all those who have been involved in developing appropriate infrastructure and delivering high quality tourism and hospitality products, services and experiences.
The figures are testimony to the vision which informed and shaped the establishment of visitor targets and to the evolving, high-quality visitor experience our industry now delivers. Encouragingly, there has also been recognition for the quality of the Northern Ireland visitor experience with Belfast and the Causeway Coast recently being designated by Lonely Planet as the best region to visit in 2018.
This recognition, following Titanic Belfast’s accolade as the World’s Leading Tourist Attraction at the World Travel Awards in 2016, highlights Northern Ireland’s emergence as a “must see destination”. These accolades also underscore the growing importance of the visitor experience and the importance of tourism to our economy with the most recent figures from NISRA confirming 2017 as a record year for tourism.
The figures reveal there were 4.9 million visitors contributing a record spend of £926 million. More visitors than ever are coming to Northern Ireland and they are staying longer and spending more money. Since 2011, there has been a threefold increase in the number of cruise ships docking in Northern Ireland with more than 110 cruise ships arriving in 2017 and an estimated 168,000 passengers and crew on board. Hotel occupancy rates in Belfast for 2017 are also at record levels and are estimated to be in excess of 80 per cent.
Tourism and hospitality rely greatly on people to deliver quality service to visitors. It is an industry where first impressions often matter more than many employees recognise and where people are an integral part of the visitor experience. Thus, as tourism grows so too does the need for labour.
Not surprisingly therefore in Northern Ireland, hospitality labour is currently in high demand and consequently attracting and retaining talent is something that enlightened employers are now recognising.
The industry is experiencing a skills gap and many stakeholders recognise the implications of this. However, there seems little doubt that as tourism grows, a sector-wide solution must be found to address the emerging skills need.
In many parts of the world, working in hospitality and tourism is regarded as a worthy and respected career, however, this is not entirely the case in the UK and there are still many for whom the concept of service equates to servility and a career in the sector is not perceived as appealing.
Whilst some employers have put strategies in place to address this, the implications of the skills gap, coupled with the impending impact of Brexit, will compound the need for the sector to both attract, develop, reward and retain talent.
Looking to the Republic of Ireland the work of Skillnets provides opportunities for Northern Ireland’s tourism and hospitality employers to learn ‘what works’ in relation to skills development. Recognising that investment at enterprise level in the skills of employees can not only help businesses to remain competitive but also create additional value, such as improved productivity alongside increased employee engagement are at the forefront of Skillnets’ vision.
The development of the new tourism skills action plan led by the Department for the Economy will address the skills gap however, the demise of People First, the lack of a functioning local Assembly and Brexit all make for a challenging operating environment.
There is little doubt that human capital is an important driver of competitive advantage and this is particularly the case in hospitality and tourism where people are central to the visitor economy. In an age where career choices and decisions are informed by various constituencies it may well be time for the industry to address the need for it to be perceived as a career of first choice if the region’s economy is to benefit from tourism’s full potential.
There are clear synergies to be derived across the sector for businesses with similar opportunities and challenges to work collaboratively and to develop solutions. There has never been a more pressing need for the sector to contemplate the importance of human capital and to develop appropriate strategies to address the skills gap.
Ursula Quinn is a Senior Lecturer in hospitality management at the Ulster University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
