Concern about shortage of tourism workers

Tourism operators are warning of a looming labour shortage in the industry even as the island expects a further rebound in the sector.

However, Minister of Tourism and International Transport Senator Lisa Cummins has sought to assure that officials are already moving to address the problem. She said her Ministry has contacted learning institutions to fast-track training opportunities to boost employment prospects for individuals interested in the industry.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the tourism industry ground to a halt as countries closed their borders and implemented strict measures to contain the spread of the virus. This continued into 2021.

It was estimated that job losses in the industry reached in excess of 35,000 in Barbados, as a result.

“In terms of the number of persons who have returned to work, what we are hearing right now from the industry, and they have shared this with us earlier in the course of [this] week, is that they are actually having a labour shortage,” Cummins revealed in response to questions from the media on Friday, following the unveiling of five poster cards as part of a Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. summer promotion.

“Many of the partners who are in the tourism sector are saying they are having difficulty as they prepare for their forward bookings all the way down through winter, they are having difficulties finding labour.”

The Tourism Minister was unable to say whether the labour shortage was concentrated in specific areas, how widespread it was, or the reason for it, but she disclosed it was also affecting those in the accommodation segment.

“I am not quite sure how that is playing out and where they are necessarily pulling labour from, but we are committed to helping.

“During the course of this week, we have met with a few tertiary level [learning] institutions and we are collaborating now on how we can start new programming to prepare for persons coming out of tertiary level education to usher them into employment opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sector. So, we will be working with them for that,” Cummins explained.

Efforts to get a comment from the BHTA were unsuccessful up to press time.

At the same time, the Tourism Minister said she was satisfied with the interest already being shown by Barbadians since the announcement late last month that Royal Caribbean would be recruiting over 1,000 individuals in the coming weeks.

The job fair for that is scheduled to take place between June 14 and 16.

Cummins said she was certain a number of tourism industry workers who became unemployed during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak would be seeking to get a cruise job.

“A lot of those people either went back into tourism, or many of them chose, because of their experiences, to look for jobs in other areas. But many of them are now saying to us, ‘we want to try this, we would love to have an opportunity to work on the cruise ships. It’s been such a hard time, we want to be able to rebuild our lives, and every opportunity counts’,” reported Minister Cummins.

“So, we are going to put every single resource into ensuring that as many Barbadians as possible can have an opportunity to gain employment, not just this for the first time . . . but it is meant to be an opportunity that can be created on an annual basis each time they [Royal Caribbean] receive new vessels and are taking on thousands of new workers.”

According to the latest data, the unemployment rate in Barbados was estimated at 10.9 per cent at the end of December last year. The number of people estimated to be unemployed was 14,400 while the number of people employed was recorded at 118,400.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb