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STRENGHTENING SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

STRENGHTENING SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY. Challenges facing the Tourism Industry. Mr. Josef Bugeja – Secretary for the Hospitality and Food Section. TOURISM IN EUROPE.

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STRENGHTENING SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

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  1. STRENGHTENING SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Challenges facing the Tourism Industry Mr. Josef Bugeja – Secretary for the Hospitality and Food Section

  2. TOURISM IN EUROPE • European countries recorded in excess of 440 million visitor arrivals in 2005. An even greater amount of tourism activity occurs in the form of domestic tourism and day trips. • Tourism, directly and indirectly, accounts for around 10% of European GDP and 20 million jobs. • Tourism must have a special relationship with the environment and society. This is because of its unique dependency on quality environment, cultural distinctiveness and social interaction. • Tourism can be a tool to aid or drive regeneration and economic development as well as enhancing the quality of life of visitors and communities. • Making tourism more sustainable will contribute significantly to the sustainability of European society.

  3. TOURISM IN MALTA • The tourism industry in Malta is one of the core pillars of the local economy and is facing serious challenges. • Tourism supports 27% of the total employment in Malta, amounting to more than 41,000 jobs. • Therefore the need to secure business not only through competitive prices but also through excellent service is paramount. • When an employer invests in training and excellent working conditions for his employees, he will be investing in his own enterprise. • For all stake holders to succeed in our goals we must re-introduce the service culture.

  4. ECONOMIC PROSPERITY • To ensure the long term competitiveness, viability and prosperity of tourism enterprises and destinations. • To provide quality employment opportunities, offering fair pay and conditions for all employees and avoiding all forms of discrimination.

  5. SOCIAL EQUITY AND COHESION • To enhance the quality of life of local communities through tourism, and engage them in its planning and management • To provide a safe, satisfying and fulfilling experience for visitors, available to all without any discrimination

  6. ENVIRONMENTAL & CULTURAL PROTECTION • To minimize pollution and degradation of the global and local environment and the use of scarce resources by tourism activities. • To maintain and strengthen cultural richness and biodiversity and contribute to their appreciation and conservation.

  7. Key challenges for the tourism industry

  8. THE RIGHT CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL TOURISM 1 There are a number of key requirements for successful tourism enterprises and destinations that should be met if sustainable tourism is to be achieved. These include: • Safety and security. The basic rights of the tourist must be met – including safety of transport and tourism facilities, food hygiene, water and air quality, freedom from crime and exploitation, etc. • Quality of facilities and services. This should be of a level that meets or exceeds visitor expectation. Reliability of information. Information for tourists and stakeholders engaged in tourism should be accurate and helpful.

  9. THE RIGHT CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL TOURISM 2 • Effective market access. Enterprises and destinations should be readily able to reach and communicate with prospective visitors. • Supportive business environment. Regulatory frameworks and business services should provide fair and supportive conditions for enterprise, creativity and innovation. • The right to take holidays. Collectively agreed rights for workers to paid annual leave and limitation on working time are an important precondition for tourism.

  10. Anticipating and keeping abreast of change • Environmental changes, notably climate change. These will affect demand patterns and future conditions and challenges for sustainable development in destinations. • Technological change. This can have a major effect on environmental impact and possible solutions available in the future, like faster air transport. • Market trends and changes. Changes in source markets, demographics, visitor profiles, tastes and motivations all have a bearing on the industry • Political, economic and social changes. These can affect the context and attitudes to tourism and sustainability in source markets and in destinations.

  11. Challenge 1: Reducing the seasonality of demand • Appropriate action to strengthen the appeal of the off-season as against the peak includes: • Adjusting target market selection towards non-seasonal markets (e.g. business tourism, non-family segments and certain niche markets like golf, sport training and long stay for senior citizens) • Innovative product development, packaging, events and promotion in the off-season. This could include price differentials and incentives. • Action should also be taken to influence the demand patterns at source, including if possible the re-scheduling and spreading of school holidays and encouraging employers to enable flexible leave taking.

  12. Challenge 2: Tourism transport • 97% of all tourists use air transport to reach Malta • Low cost air lines • Cruise liners • Market trends show that people are opting for frequent but shorter holidays • Easy access to reach your destination

  13. Challenge 3: Maintaining and enhancing community prosperity and quality of life, in the face of change 1 • Tourism has significant power to change the character and prosperity of the places where it occurs. The challenge is to manage this change in the interests of the well being of the community. • As such, this is directly relevant to improving income and strengthening the conditions of decent jobs as well as improving environmental aims

  14. Challenge 3: Maintaining and enhancing community prosperity and quality of life, in the face of change 2 • On the other hand any development associated with tourism, can alter the character of the country. • It can also result in spreading urbanization (or sporadic development) leading to loss of local amenity and green space. • Changes in property values can threaten quality of life for local people.

  15. Challenge 4: Minimizing resource use & production of waste • Tourism can be a significant and at times profligate user of environmental resources. • The use of water is a major concern. • Minimizing energy consumption (for example in air-conditioning and heating) and encouraging the use of renewable sources and improved technology. • Promoting and facilitating the reduction, reuse and recycling of materials. • Water quality, including the efficient treatment of sewerage, avoiding discharge into marine and river environments. • Air quality and reducing/managing litter.

  16. Challenge 5: Conserving and giving value to natural and cultural heritage 1 • Natural and cultural assets of importance to tourism include: • The quality and variety of natural landscapes • Cultural landscapes, shaped by man, in which Malta is especially rich • Individual historic and cultural heritage sites • Biodiversity – flora and fauna, both terrestrial and maritime • Living culture and local distinctiveness – arts, crafts, cuisine, language – events and festivals.

  17. Challenge 5: Conserving and giving value to natural and cultural heritage 2 • Striking balance between development from tourism itself and conserving the natural and cultural heritage. • Damage from over-use by tourists. • Appropriate designation of protected areas. • Strengthening the relationship between protected areas and local tourism interests. • Adopting visitor management plans to ensure that tourism does not damage natural and cultural resources.

  18. Challenge 5: Conserving and giving value to natural and cultural heritage 3 • Pursuing ways of increasing contributions to conservation and management from visitors, the tourism sector and other enterprises benefiting from tourism. • Supporting conservation activity on individual sites and private land, including the restoration of heritage buildings and the maintenance of traditional landscapes and habitats. • Strengthening the development and promotion of local products and services based on natural and cultural heritage, including traditional crafts, local produce and other elements of local distinctiveness

  19. Challenge 6: Making holidays available to all 1 • Everyone should have access to tourism, including young people, students, families people with special needs and senior citizens. • Two principal challenges to address are: • Physical disability. This includes the high proportion of citizens affected by mobility. • Economic disadvantage, which exists in all countries. • Pursuing specific schemes to facilitate and encourage holiday taking by people on low incomes, such as the holiday voucher systems run in some countries based on tax incentives and involving governments and operators. • Encouraging employers to cater for groups of people with special needs and senior citizens.

  20. Challenge 6: Making holidays available to all 2 • Relevant action includes: • Encouraging policies and actions to support social tourism at all levels. • Raising enterprise awareness of the size of the market and the economic advantages • Ensuring universal adherence to workers’ leave entitlement, safeguarding this aspect of social security guaranteed by the International Labour Organization • Designing and adapting tourism facilities and sites to meet requirements for physical disability. • Improving information relevant to disabled people and under-privileged groups.

  21. Challenge 8: Improving the Quality of Tourism Jobs 1 • In tourism, employees provide an integral part of the customer experience, and it is the same employees that can provide a competitive advantage. • There must be something unique in the skills, know-how and behavior of those working in the industry to enable the country to distinguish itself from other competing locations. • Employees must be happy to give an excellent service

  22. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 2 • The tourism industry offers many job opportunities to people of all ages and skills. • Particularly for young people, a job in tourism often represents the first contact with the working life. • However, the tourism industry at present is offering jobs with: • Un-favorable working conditions like long and irregular working hours, • Fixed-term contracts,

  23. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 3 • Part-time • Seasonal and casual work • Extra hours rate • Below average salary levels • Low levels of qualification • Lack of career opportunities

  24. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 4 • High rates of undeclared work • Banking of hours • Redundancies • Outsourcing of services • Health and Safety Issues • Transfer of Business/Undertaking which may result in decreasing of conditions of employment. • Lack of training and life-long learning.

  25. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 5 • The quality of jobs in tourism, and how the sector is perceived as a career choice, should be improved by addressing: • Salary levels and working conditions. • The pattern, length and consistency of working hours, while recognizing that these must match the pattern of customer demand. • The ability of offer fulltime, all year-round jobs on indefinite contracts. • Career progression and opportunities.

  26. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 6 • The challenge is for tourism business, however small, to develop well designed human resources practices. • The social dialogue between employers, employees and the trade unions should be strengthened. There are many examples of where innovative work organization, negotiated by employers and trade unions, has led both to higher quality and full time jobs and improved profitability.

  27. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 7 • Also the challenge of improving job quality in the sector, and giving it a competitive edge also requires • Introducing basic working conditions in every work place in every country • More coordinated effort to strengthen training and establish a careers structure. • Strengthening the application of common standards in tourism training across Europe, and mutual recognition of qualifications and skills (e.g. through the Europass scheme or the Qualification and Skill Passport). • Application of life-long-learning initiatives

  28. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 8 • Exchanging good practice in tourism training across countries through globalize organizations (like Leonardo Da Vinci) • Implementing good practices across countries through globalize organizations (EFFAT and ILO) • Integrating sustainability issues into mainstream tourism training and education. • Active promotion and public relations work to stimulate response to tourism as a career and participate in training at all levels. • Corporate Social Responsibility • Equal Opportunities

  29. Challenge 8: Improving the quality of tourism jobs 9 • European Works Council • Job Security • Decent work • Family Friendly Measures • Vocational and continuous training • Health and Safety • Social Dialogue

  30. “PLEASURE IN YOUR JOB PUTS PERFECTION IN YOUR WORK” Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)

  31. Thank you for your attention

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