Tourism courses training gaps in the South Pacific region

Tourism courses training gaps in the South Pacific region Semisi Taumoepeau and Anna Addison AIS

South Pacific Tourism Sector In the region, tourism is the only economic sector to have seen sustained growth in recent years. It makes a significant contribution to revenue and employment generation and is ranked highly amongst the economic priorities of Pacific Islands governments.The challenge for the people of the South Pacific is how to manage and develop this industry in such a way that it can be a sustainable source of livelihood for future generations. At the same time not degrade their natural and cultural resources upon which it depends.

This paper is based on various studies conducted during the past five years in the South Pacific region. Main emphasis were to conduct assessments of existing tourism training needs in the region, conduct a demand and gap analysis and formulate recommendations to respective stakeholders.

South Pacific tourism highlights • International tourist arrivals grew by 3.9% in 2016 with Asia and the Pacific region led growth at 8.4%. • Tourist arrivals to the region by major source markets posted growth of 4.2% in 2016 following 3.4% rise in 2015. • Traditional source markets Australia and New Zealand continued to dominate the region and accounted for 52% share of the total tourist arrivals in 2016. • By purpose of visit, leisure/holidays remain by far the largest segment of arrivals in the region in 2016 at 66.2% share. • Arrivals by sea reached 1,059,152 in 2016 with cruise arrivals accounting for 99.8%. This brings total visitor arrivals (both air and sea) to the region to 3,089,681 in 2016.

South Pacific Visitor Arrivals 2016

Human Resource Development Human Resource Development lies at the heart of attempts by South Pacific nations to develop tourism industries that can bring sustained economic opportunities to their people. Efforts to increase visitor yield and enhance the sustainability of the industry will come to nothing if there is not a base of a skilled labour force for industry development to rest on. Human resource development and well targeted training boosts tourism industry profitability, increases work retention, and enhances the ability of business and government to meet labour needs. Well trained service providers help to maintain service standards and greatly improve the benefits from tourism to the local community. Greater use of technology would be essential for improved yield and efficiency.

A trained workforce • Improves level of visitors satisfaction • Improves sales • Improves economic linkages • Improves efficiency and productivity • Decreases operational cost • Extends length of stay • Increases tourist expenditures • Improves occupancy • Improves welfare of staff • Reduces staff turnover

Education and Training Providers in the region There are three major groupings of providers in Samoa and Tonga: • Australia Pacific Training College (APTC) and USP (both of which have regional reach) • National universities: USP,NUS, • Small Private Training Providers

Methodology For this ongoing research, mixed methods approach were adopted, triangulating data from web-audits, field interviews (industry leaders and employees) and an online industry survey. Interviews of key education providers, industry stakeholders and employees were conducted in Samoa (2013-2014) and Tonga (2014-2017). The surveys gathered basic information on the business and on the individual supplying the data. Interviews were also conducted with key Education Ministry officials and representatives from Statistics and Labour Departments. We also used secondary data from a previous regional study (Milne et al 2013) where interviews were carried out in Vanuatu, Fiji, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Kiribati

Tonga and Samoa surveys and industry consultations Tourism businesses in general and smaller operations specifically do not invest significantly in employee training and development unless compelled to do so by legal or market pressures in island location, the most common form of training provided to tourism employees is designed to ensure that they meet the basic requirements of the job (Baum 2012) The smaller that the island community is, the greater is the likelihood that potential entrants to the tourism sector will be required to go off island in order to avail of educational and training opportunities. • 200 surveys were distributed between April and June 2016 to the Tongan tourism industry. We collected 152 in return but only 102 to us were completed satisfactorily. • Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted tourism managers in Nukualofa during the same period • Triangulation with recent reports on training needs in the South Pacific. • Both primary and secondary data were used with the Samoan surveys during the period 2013-2014.

Figure 1 Is current demand for staff training being met by local education providers? (Source Milne et al 2013)

Table 1 Areas of future training needs (N=128) Source Milne et al 2013)

Figure 2 Physical and human capacity to meet industry training needs (Source: Milne et al 2013)

Findings on needs and skills- Samoa and Tonga Customer Service/ Communication-English Language Tour Guiding/Whale Guiding Cookery/ F&B short term Computing and numeracy skills for employees Digital marketing Health and safety issues. • Approximately 70% of sample surveyed for the tourism industry in Tonga did not have the appropriatequalification and 64% of the tourism employees in Tonga had not received any on the job training since commencing there roles. • 80% of those surveyed responded yes that it would have been beneficial and productive for there career to have a formal qualification. • Findings from both Samoa and Tonga were very similar in the range of skills and training needs in the following areas.

General comments on the major findings from various studies include: • The provider assessment reveals a considerable gap between industry demand for staff (and management) and what is able to be provided locally. Industry responses focused on the lack of tourism exposure students receive at school. • Business owners and managers who completed the survey and participated in the interviews also felt that locally based educators had a relatively limited ability to provide the range of skills they require for their own personal/business development. • In-house training (ranging from formal to informal) was adopted by a clear majority of survey respondents. Large firms are far more common to utilise formal in-house training techniques than their smaller counterparts. • In searching for knowledge for their own personal development, the survey respondents ranked the internet as the most important source of information, followed by local business and social networks. • The findings show that our universities and high schools need to be geared up to take advantage of the boom in tourism and how to better capture the tourist dollar for the benefit of the nation, the industry and the well-being of workers who make the industry what it is. • Our tourism operators know what they want—now it is a matter of communicating that to the educational institutions so we can churn out more highly trained and skilled waiters, chefs and front desk managers, to name a few.

Skills and Training gaps • Considerable gap between industry demand for staff (and management) and what is able to be provided locally. Industry responses focused on the lack of tourism exposure students receive at school. Industry is uncertain about some of the qualifications in place and look towards international qualifications as a benchmark. • Business owners and managers felt that locally based educators had a relatively limited ability to provide the range of skills they require for their own personal/business development. Once again a failure of the institution to come up with courses that equip students with the skills to actually perform their functions. • Online training courses are being explored by training providers in the region. However the infrastructure is still being developed, internet access is still very expensive and slow in most destinations.

Selected list of References • Baum, T. (2012) “Human resource management in tourism: a small island perspective” International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 6 Iss 2 pp. 124-132 • Milne, S & Taumoepeau, S (2013). Tourism and Hospitality Regional HRD Plan, South Pacific Tourism Organisation, Suva, Fiji. • Taumoepeau, S. (2013). Training Needs analysis for Tonga tourism, Ministry of Tourism, Nukualofa, Tonga. • Samoa Tourism Workforce Development Plan 2011- 2012, Samoa Tourism, Apia, Samoa • Milne, S., Taumoepeau, S., Deuchar, C. & Mindy, S. (2014). Samoa tourism and hospitality workforce development report. Apia, Samoa: Samoa Tourism Authority and NZTRI. • South Pacific Tourism Organisation (2013). SPTO Regional Tourism HRD Plan 2010– 2013.Suva, Fiji

Tourism courses training gaps in the South Pacific region