Report in pdf format

Human resources development, employment and globalization
in the hotel, catering and tourism sector

Report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting on Human Resources Development, Employment
and Globalization in the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Sector

Geneva, 2-6 April 2001

International Labour Office   Geneva

Copyright ©2001 International Labour Organization (ILO)

Part 2

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3. Employment and working conditions

3.1. Composition of the labour force

Worldwide, employment within the tourism economy is estimated at 192.2 million jobs (one in every 12.4 jobs in the formal sector). By 2010, this should grow to 251.6 million jobs (one in every 11 formal sector jobs).^[71] This includes employment created by fixed capital formation activities and by providers to the tourism industry. Direct employment for tourist consumption amounts to about 3per cent of total employment worldwide. In some countries, however, the proportion is three times higher (Spain – 8.3 per cent; Mauritius – 10 per cent; Barbados – 10.5 per cent). The industry is heavily dominated by SMEs: in Europe, for example, there are 2.7 million SMEs operating in the sector, representing almost all HCT enterprises. Some 94 per cent of this segment are micro-enterprises employing fewer than ten people.^[72] SMEs employ over half the labour force working in the industry (see table 3.4).

Although tourism is a growth industry and a major creator of value added, the industry is vulnerable to a variety of economic, ecological, geopolitical and meteorological factors, and over-reliance on it can be dangerous for a country. Economic recession and the impact of natural disasters or terrorist attacks can devastate the sector in a country for several years. One example is the recent Asian financial crisis which resulted in a substantial tourism downturn throughout 1997 and 1998 in affected countries, which have only recently started to recover. Another is the war in the Balkans, which has seriously reduced tourism income in that area. Events of this kind represent the extremes of a recurrent uncertainty in an industry which is characterized by the seasonal nature of many of its activities and by important fluctuations even during normal periods. These factors shape the structure of the tourism labour force, making it difficult to maintain high permanent staffing levels. There is a generic tendency to operate on the basis of a core staff and to employ the labour needed for day-to-day operations under atypical contractual arrangements.

As the ultimate “just in time” deliverer of goods and services, the restaurant sector has to face exceptional peaks of work as, to a lesser degree, does the hotel sector – either during holiday periods or, for example, to deal with congresses. The industry responds by maintaining a large pool of temporary labour on which it can draw in response to demand. These workers are likely to be young and/or female. The necessary availability is often found among students wishing to combine university or vocational studies with flexible working hours in hotels and restaurants. The industry employs mostly young people, and indeed for many of them provides the point of entry into the world of work. Women may also find flexible arrangements convenient as a means of balancing family obligations and work. The available statistics show that the industry also has a high proportion of female employees.

The prevailing patterns of the HCT workforce are illustrated by the following statistics:

• a study by the National Restaurant Association in the United States,^[73] based on 1996 data, found that 52 per cent of restaurant employees in the United States were women, 25 per cent of employees were aged between 16 and 19 years, 19 per cent were between 20 and 24 years and a further 25 per cent were aged between 25 and 34 years;
• in Austria in 1995, women accounted for between 60 and 70 per cent of total HCT employment, depending on the subsector, the proportion of women being particularly high in food services and accommodation. In the same country, 14.5 per cent of workers in the industry were under 20 years old;^[74]
• in the Netherlands, the average age of workers in the industry is 23 years; in Denmark, 50 per cent of all employees are under 30 years old; in Spain, over 50 per cent of all employees are under 34 years old, and the 16-24 years age group represents 20.4 per cent of total employment in the sector;^[75]
• some 58 per cent of workers in the hospitality sector in Australia are women; in Denmark, the industry is 62 per cent female; in Italy there is a 50 per cent split between men and women; in the Netherlands 52 per cent of employees are women; and, although in Spain the figure is 42.5 per cent, the number of women employed in the sector is increasing.^[76]

In an industry which employs a large proportion of young, mobile people, turnover is bound to be high, and recruitment is a habitual problem in the sector for this and other reasons. However, one hotel in the United Kingdom has introduced a customer host scheme, under which older recruits – with a minimum age of 55, but generally over 60 – are recruited to help out as concierges during peak periods. Such employees often have considerable experience in the industry and may have a lower absentee rate.^[77] Another example is found in the Canadian accommodation sector, where the workforce is ageing owing to lower turnover in workplaces with better working conditions and wages. One-quarter of the workforce is over 44 years old, and trade unions are starting to negotiate reduced workloads for older employees whose work involves a high degree of physical exertion.

3.2. Impact of new technology on skills requirements

Information and communications technology (ICT) systems which integrate the power of the Internet, customer relationship management and supply chain management in a seamless, one-source destination site, allow a variety of operations – product selection, ordering, fulfilment, tracking, payment and reporting – to be performed with one easy-to-use tool.^[78] By cutting out one or more layers of the purchasing structure, these systems yield cost savings by putting the buyer in some instances into direct contact with the producer. They also have employment implications, as intermediaries find that their share of the market is shrinking, with inevitable reductions in labour requirements upstream of the HCT sector. Technology which facilitates on-line hotel, restaurant and theatre reservations or travel arrangements will have an impact in terms of staff reductions on the front-desk hotel staff who used to perform those functions. This technology also calls for a different range of skills from employees. Although systems designers, aware of the rapid turnover among front-desk staff, are working on products that are easier to operate and thus reduce training time for new recruits, the technology is changing so fast that knowledge becomes obsolete ever more quickly. Training will therefore become a continuous need and the remaining jobs will require greater skills.

Many hotels are examining the possibility of installing personal computers in their guest rooms, and some have indeed already done so. This allows customers to use hotel rooms as their offices. Increasing numbers of business guests are also travelling with their own portable computers. Hyatt International Hotels are an example of how new job profiles may be created as a result of this technology. The group has introduced “technology concierges” in their deluxe properties worldwide. These specialist employees, known within the group as “compcierges”, are trained to help guests to set up their mobile communications equipment, to explain how to use the in-room technology, hook up laptop computers, provide support in accessing e-mail or the Internet, and so on. They may also help to locate local retailers that service computers and stock software. While technological expertise is essential, the emphasis is on service; all the team members come from a hospitality background and have in addition received the training needed to become electronic troubleshooters.^[79] ICT equipment installed in hotels also requires maintenance and planning departments, making this a new field with job creation potential, although such work may largely be subcontracted to outside operators. Swissôtel has established an ICT department employing ten people, which is now an independent, profitable element of the company. The Carlson Hospitality Group also has a knowledge technologies division, which was created to ensure the smooth operation of the reservation and customer information systems installed in the group’s 600 hotels throughout the world.

The new technology is also being used by a number of companies as a means of raising skills levels. Domino’s Pizza has developed interactive, learner-centred programmes to guide young employees through the steps involved in making a pizza. Computer-based coaches will soon be available to guide employees through all stages of customer relations. Companies will invest in these new techniques to fulfil their training needs.^[80]

Hotel managements are studying technologies which will reduce the attention which guests require from hotel staff. These include: electronic key cards which will open doors and act as credit cards for all on-site purchases; management systems which record the time guests are likely to check out, so that room service may be programmed more efficiently; and cleaning staff equipped with hand-held computers, linked to the hotel’s property management system (PMS), so that information can be centralized and constantly updated in real time.^[81] The Canadian Regional Office of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HEREIU) has expressed concern that such systems will allow hotel companies to computerize almost all everyday front-office operations. Where customers can make their own reservations via the Internet, they could replace switchboard operators altogether. HEREIU further maintains that new in-room technologies such as video check-out systems will replace front-line workers, while electronic keys will be able to tell the PMS exactly how long each employee has spent cleaning a room, and may thus tend to promote an aggressive productivity policy.^[82] The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) notes that placing the emphasis on time-saving and labour-saving technologies also means that the pace of work is faster, and argues that in reality, “labour-saving” and “time-saving” are inclined to mean reductions in the numbers of workers. In the IUF’s view, the ultimate consequence of time-and-attendance computer software, which provides information on guest arrivals and departures so that workers can be dispatched to their duties immediately, is the dehumanization of work.^[83]

(a) New technologies in restaurants

New technologies will also result in structural changes in restaurant kitchens. Use of the “sous-vide” technique, where food that has been totally or partially pre-prepared or pre-cooked is supplied directly to the restaurant, means that a large number of cooking operations can now be outsourced to independent suppliers or to centralized, chain-based kitchens. New methods of food preservation, such as freezing, drying, irradiation, and vacuum and modified-atmosphere packing, enhance the shelf life of products and further reduce last minute operations. On the other hand, new types of equipment have given the baking process in restaurant kitchens a new lease of life. Suppliers of pre-prepared dough cooperate with the manufacturers of specialized ovens so that restaurant staff are required to do nothing more than place the dough in the ovens, activate the appropriate computer programme and remove the bread when it is ready. But the tendency of these innovations is to transform restaurant kitchens into assembly lines, with fewer staff members, since both the simple repetitive tasks, such as vegetable preparation, and the more complex, last minute operations, will be outsourced.^[84] Both the HEREIU and the IUF argue that “regenerated pre-processed foods” require fewer skills of kitchen staff and result in the loss of many kinds of food preparation and cooking jobs in the industry. The IUF also points to a devaluation in wages as a result of the deskilling of the remaining jobs. These arguments are difficult to refute, since most of these technologies provide savings in terms of staffing levels. On the other hand, the technologies could open up crucial empowerment possibilities, freeing staff to deal more attentively with customers, thus enhancing the profile of the establishment.

(b) New technologies and travel agencies

Access to on-line booking via the Internet is causing traditional travel agents considerable problems. It will soon be possible to reserve travel tickets using new mobile phone technology, without the need for a computer. A recent survey carried out by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that some 37per cent of travellers worldwide had used electronic tickets, while in the United States, 50 per cent of travellers expected to use such tickets by the end of 2000.^[85] Some travel agents are responding to this situation by adopting a more entrepreneurial attitude, charging customers a fee instead of the traditional commission earned on a ticket price. However, while agents may retain business contracts, they are likely to lose individual customer business for simple trips, and this drop in trade will have an impact on employment levels in the branch. Other agencies see the future in strengthening their role as consultants capable of planning complicated trips involving numerous and varied travel means and stop-offs. However, while the human element will not disappear, it will probably diminish with the spread of 24-hour “warehouse” travel agents (much as 24-hour banking has developed) which allow customers to call and make their bookings at any time.^[86]

3.3. Salaries and wages

According to a 1996 survey by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions covering 15 European Union countries, working conditions within the industry included a number of potentially problematic areas, such as irregular working hours, frequent work on Sundays, wages without a fixed basic element in 25 per cent of cases, widespread absence of overtime payments and wage levels generally 20 per cent below the European Union average.^[87] The following national examples from Europe and North America are illustrative:

• In Switzerland, despite an agreement of 1 January 1999 covering all hotel and restaurant employees, HCT workers had average monthly earnings of Sw.frs.3,394 for an effective working week of 42.8 hours, while monthly pay in the economy as a whole averaged Sw.frs.5,000.^[88]
• In the United Kingdom, average weekly wages for full-time manual, hotel and catering jobs were £225.80 for men and only £170.80 for women in 1998, while national average wages for manual workers were £328.00 for men and £211.00 for women.^[89]
• In New Orleans in the United States, the Hospitality, Hotels and Restaurant Organizing Council (HOTROC) has stated that an average hotel housekeeper earns US$5.48 an hour, which places most hotel workers and their families 20per cent below the federal poverty level. In this connection it should be noted that hotel workers in New Orleans are the only non-unionized hospitality workers in a major United States tourist and convention destination.^[90]
• In Canada, average weekly earnings increased by 5 per cent in the accommodation sector between 1998 and 1999, but food and beverage earnings lag far behind, having risen by only 1.9 per cent, in line with inflation. The average weekly wage in Canada in accommodation is Can$309.14, and in food and beverage Can$221.30. These wages should be viewed against the national average wage of Can$582.85 a week.

Such comparisons do not give a complete picture of the wage structure in the industry. For one thing, comparisons between HCT sector wages established by law or collective agreements and national averages may not fully account for the real wages in those branches where tips or gratuities account for a sizeable proportion of employees’ earnings. These are not always declared for tax purposes, nor are they always known by the employer, and may thus represent a net, tax-free source of income. Secondly, comparisons need to be made with similar occupations of equivalent skill and training levels in other sectors, but the statistical basis for doing so is often lacking.

Some comparative data are provided in the tables in Appendix 2. They are taken from the few countries where sufficient information is available. The figures suggest that hotel and restaurant workers earn less than workers in socially comparable occupations, and that the differential tends to be higher in developing countries, and higher for the occupations requiring higher skills and responsibilities.

Changing forms of remuneration

Basic wages reflect competitive labour markets, collective agreements and national laws. Variable pay is emerging as a way to reward employees whose performance enhances the success of an establishment. As a strategy, this idea is not yet common in the sector, but it is beginning to take hold. In the United States, Rodeway Inn International, at Orlando, and Motel Properties, Inc. have both developed successful techniques to reward employees above their basic salaries, based on a monthly assessment scheme.

3.4. Job and income stability and staff turnover

Turnover figures vary from region to region within countries, but the overall picture is alarming. In the United States, according to a 1998 study,^[91] annual turnover in 1997 was running at 51.7 per cent for line-level employees, 11.9 per cent for supervisory levels, and 13.5 per cent for property managers. The study shows that the turnover rate for the managerial levels is far lower than for line employees. In Asia, rates of around 30 per cent annually are quoted, rising to more than 50 per cent in Hong Kong, China (possibly owing to the construction of numerous hotels, creating a more competitive labour market). In the United Kingdom, a study carried out by the Institute of Personnel and Development in 1997 found a national turnover rate in the sector of 42 per cent, second only to the retail trade, with a rate of 43.5 per cent and far in advance of construction, where the rate was 25 per cent. In the fast food sector, in both Europe and the United States, turnover rates as high as 300 per cent are reported. It should be noted, however, that turnover figures do not separate out non-standard, part-time jobs from full-time posts. Many employees, such as college students, are not interested in permanent positions.

An American Hotel Foundation report puts the cost of replacement of hourly employees at between US$3,000 and US$10,000, while the average figure for restaurant employees is similar, at US$5,000. Many companies equate the cost of losing a trained manager with roughly one year’s salary, allowing for the time it takes for the replacement to become fully operational. In the United Kingdom, the 1997 report by the Institute of Personnel and Development estimated the cost of replacing a worker in the hotel and leisure industry at £1,922, and concluded that an average of ten weeks was required for training.

Recent negotiations within the European Union in the context of the employer-driven search for greater flexibility at work raise the prospect of improved conditions for part-time and fixed-term contract workers. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has made clear its position that if employers require more flexibility, then workers must have better protection. The Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), which represents private-sector employers, has said that employers are prepared to discuss discrimination against agency workers, provided that the unions recognize that temporary work is an integral part of a functioning market. The UNICE has also called for an easing of restrictions to allow shorter contracts and greater flexibility in their renewal. The ETUC has observed that temporary agency work is increasing all over the European Union. It doubled between 1996 and 1998 in Spain, while in France and Germany it increased by 30 per cent in three years.^[92]

Causes of turnover

Different reasons for high turnover are cited by employers and employees. Employers’ representatives generally consider that turnover in the industry should be attributed to the essentially transient nature of part of the workforce, namely students, young mothers and young people as a whole, as well as to the general difficulty in retaining staff.^[93] Employees, on the other hand, frequently cite low pay as a reason for changing employment, although lack of a career structure and benefits would appear to be of even greater importance. In the United States, for example, even if hotels and restaurants pay US$12.00 an hour, they are in competition with such jobs as bank tellers, and restaurant work retains the stigma of being physical work. Job stability, career prospects and reasonable hours of work are all part of the equation. As long as other jobs offer equal levels of pay, but more advantageous working and employment conditions, the problem of turnover will persist in the hotel and restaurant sector, unless the industry can create equivalent conditions or compensate in other ways. The transparency provided by the Internet will only serve to highlight these factors as they become more widely known.

Measures to prevent turnover

In companies where employees are recognized as valued assets and receive the training needed to assume greater responsibility, and where their opinion is sought with regard to operational changes, turnover rates are lower.A study carried out at Purdue University in the United States on the basis of questionnaires sent out to 255 fast food outlets found that establishments which provided a package of benefits to their employees were less affected by turnover. Turnover fell by around 30 per cent among employees who could expect scheduled wage increases, paid holidays, health and life insurance and Christmas bonuses.^[94]

3.5. Prevailing working conditions^[95]

(a) Working hours

Many branches of the industry are acknowledged to be particularly arduous in terms of workload and hours of work. In France, where the 35-hour working week is due to come into force for companies with more than 20 employees by 1 January 2001, and for all firms by 1 January 2002, the hotel and restaurant subsectors, which overwhelmingly come within the sphere of family-owned small businesses, regard this legislation with some trepidation. Fifteen years of negotiation were needed to arrive at a national collective agreement for the hotel and restaurant sector in 1997, providing for a working week of 43 hours. A survey carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions covering all 15 European Union countries in 1996 found that 50 per cent of hotel and restaurant sector employees worked irregular hours; 80 per cent worked two to five Sundays in a month, and 41 per cent worked six or more nights monthly. Table3.1 shows official hours of work in the tourism industry in the European Union.

Table 3.1.Official hours of work in tourism in 13 European Union countries

Hours per week	Country
More than 48 hours	Ireland
45-48 hours/week
40-44 hours/week	France, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Spain
Less than 40 hours	Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden
Source: C. Juyaux: Quels emplois dans le tourisme?(ETLC paper).

In France, Dégriftours, a travel agency that is 100 per cent electronically operated, has applied the 35-hour legislation in France since 1 June 2000. Teams have been increased by 10 per cent to compensate, while the working day has been reduced to 6.8 hours, with seven hours paid. The agency is open from 8 a.m. to 7p.m., seven days a week, and operates flexibly. This system has been favourably received by staff, who can, for example, choose to work on Sundays and take Wednesdays off in order to care for children. There is also a rotation of weekend work to ensure a fair distribution of the less social working hours.^[96] The tour operator Nouvelles Frontières has reached a different agreement after nine months of negotiation. The company has signed an agreement to increase its staff by 8 per cent with the help of state subsidies. Employees will be able to organize their working time according to one of three formulas, namely a four-day week without reduction in pay, a four-and-a-half-day week, or a five-day, 40-hour week yielding 28 extra leave days. The employees must decide on one of the formulas for a period of one year, planned in advance with their supervisors in the services and agencies.^[97]

The French fast food sector signed an agreement on 15 April 1999 effectively reducing the working week to 35 hours as of 1 November 1999. This could create between 2,000 and 3,000 new jobs in a sector that employs 80,000 people in France. A national agreement signed on 1 April 1999 also reduced the working week to 35 hours for amusement park employees, with no loss of pay. Moreover, the 35-hour week is being implemented by some employers in the French institutional catering market.

In the United Kingdom, the British Hospitality Association (BHA) claims that the new European Union Working Time Directive restricts working hours although there is no evidence that staff want them restricted. The BHA argues that the 11-hour obligatory break between shifts may cause problems for hotels with receptionists who like to see guests in at night and out in the morning, and for kitchen and restaurant staff serving dinner and breakfast.^[98]

(b) Reduction in workloads

A number of negotiated workload reductions have emerged recently in Europe and North America. In the institutional catering sector of the Netherlands, a recently negotiated national collective agreement provides for a 10 per cent annual reduction in workloads based on evaluations at the workplace. Procedures are to be established for handling workload-related grievances, and temporary contracts must now state the actual number of hours worked. The possibility of early retirement at 61 years with 80 per cent pay is included in the agreement. A collective agreement ratified by HERE Local 2 in the United States covers 11hotels in San Francisco. The agreement introduces a doubling of retirement benefits, a reduction in the number of rooms per housekeeper from 15 to 14, and average pay rises of 3.78 per cent. It also contains provisions on the specific rights of migrant workers, health coverage, extra personnel for special events and workloads.^[99]

(c) Accidents, violence and stress at the workplace

Work-related injuries tend to be more frequent, if generally less serious, in the HCT industry than they are in construction. Almost 50 per cent of workplace managers have reported one or more occurrences of work-related illness in the preceding year. Of these, stress is the most common.^[100]

Violence in the work context is on the increase. The ILO publication “Violence at work”^[101] identifies hotel, catering and restaurant staff as likely to experience violence and quotes a recent survey into the extent of violence in pubs in southern England according to which 24 per cent of pub licensees felt “highly” at risk and nearly another quarter felt “quite” at risk.

(d) The challenge of HIV/AIDS at the workplace

While the chances of contracting or communicating HIV are minimal in the industry, training is needed to assuage personnel fears and make staff aware of the risks that do exist. In terms of employment, the disease may have an impact on three major areas of a business: productivity, employee benefits and morale. The establishment of an HIV policy within an enterprise is therefore a necessity, irrespective of the level of HIV infection in individual countries. In respect of workers who become infected, a number of good practices have come to the fore over recent years. For example, if a worker is HIV-infected, employers should: accept a less than ideal level of performance, as long as minimum standards are met; modify the employee’s job description or reassign the employee to a different job; allow moretime off for health appointments (with or without pay); allow more sick leave or absenteeism (with or without pay); arrange a more flexible work schedule, or provide for the employee to switch to part-time work, or allow the employee to work from home. Confidentiality of medical information should be ensured, and the UNAIDS recommendations against mandatory HIV testing of staff should be respected.^[102]

(e) Subcontracting

As a means of lowering costs, a growing management trend has been to subcontract various services in the industry, such as food and beverages, housekeeping, laundry services, security and valeting. Hotels are increasingly grouping together to employ a common Internet reservation system provider, resulting in a reduction in jobs in the hotels concerned. Hotels are also leasing out their restaurants, particularly in the food and beverage market segment. This implies a severe drop in union membership if the employees of the outsourced companies are non-union members. The New York-New York Casino in Las Vegas in the United States has outsourced virtually all its food and beverage operations to the Ark Restaurants Corporation. There is a differential of around US$6 an hour between the wages paid by Ark and the “Strip Agreement” negotiated by HERE Local 226. HERE therefore regards outsourcing as a means whereby management can impose less favourable conditions on workers by avoiding a collective bargaining agreement. The union calculates that, for Ark to make a profit in this traditionally low- or no-margin operation, they must continue to pay between 25 and 50 per cent below union-scale wages.^[103]

3.6. Non-standard employment and working conditions

The nature of many jobs in the tourism industry creates an atypical employment relationship and special working conditions, such as flexible working time and temporary or part-time work. In addition, there is a general demand by enterprises for greater flexibility in working relations, so as to increase productivity in the face of the growing international competition which is now only a “dot-com away”. The 1999 Joint ECF-IUF and HOTREC Declaration for the promotion of employment in the European hotel and restaurant sector^[104] states that, while non-full-time work can be attractive to employees for a variety of reasons, flexible work organization models should not be introduced simply to suit employers’ needs, but must also correspond to employees’ wishes. The social partners are called on to examine the possibility of elaborating concepts which combine enterprises’ needs for flexibility with workers’ needs for security. Table 3.2 shows the percentage of tourism personnel working part time in 13 countries in the European Union.^[105]

Table 3.2.Full-time and part-time employment in hotels and restaurants, European Union, 1995-97

The European Commission’s High Level Group on Tourism and Employment^[106] has acknowledged that tourism has difficulty in providing sustainable employment throughout the year for all its high season staff. Table 3.3 shows the percentage of staff on fixed-term contracts in 13 European Union countries.

Table 3.3.Percentage of employees on fixed-term contracts in 13 European Union countries

(a) Casual staff

The Swiss trade journal, “Expresso”,^[107] defines casual workers as those who are employed on an occasional and irregular basis in connection with specific short-term requirements. In Switzerland, thecasual worker has the same legal rights as a full- or part-time worker, and the only difference lies in the fact that holidays may be paid in the form of a 10.65 per cent supplement to the hourly wage for regimes allowing five weeks’ annual holiday, or an 8.33 per cent supplement for regimes of four weeks’ annual holiday. A similar system prevails in France. A hotel in London has sought to solve the problem of irregular workload peaks by employing university students on a part-time basis for a fixed number of hours annually, in this instance 500 hours, which can be used as required, with students able to exchange hours among themselves according to their individual availability. According to the IUF, the need for labour flexibility has always given rise to problems in respect of maintenance of permanent staffing levelsin the hospitality industry, and there is a very high proportion of part-time and casual work compared to other industries.^[108] The union notes, however, that the greater the degree of flexibility, the weaker the employer’sdirect control over labour. Moreover, casual employees are likely to be less committed to the enterprise. Employers, too, are conscious that the casualization of the workforce results in less loyalty to the enterprise and lower skill levels.

(b) Seasonal variations

In the context of a considerable overall increase in the HCT sector’s workforce, seasonal employment and part-time work have also grown substantially. In Austria, there is a 26 per cent seasonal variation in employment in the sector; in Spain the figure is 47 per cent; in Italy it is more than 50 per cent, while in Denmark the number of employees in the sector doubles during the summer season.^[109] Part-time work has also been growing faster than full-time employment in the service sector in Australia, where its incidence is relatively high by international standards, particularly among women. Although part-time labour has been used frequently in the Netherlands, employers have recently soughtto retain more full-time personnel: the figures show a reduction of temporary and seasonal employees from 82,100 in 1995 to 67,100 in 1997, and a corresponding increase in permanent full-time contracts from 132,500 to 160,300. In the rest of Europe, the incidence of part-time employment is increasing. In Italy, part-time contracts in restaurants have increased by 80 per cent over the same two-year period and by almost 30 per cent in hotels.^[110]

(c) Advantages and disadvantages of non-standard forms of labour

The 1995 Joint ECF-IUF Declaration on Flexibility of Labour and Organization of Working Time, Part-time Work and the Creation of Jobs, while stating that the creation of full-time jobs is a priority, lists a number of advantages which part-time work may present for both employers and workers. Such employment may correspond to the needs of certain groups of workers – students, parents wishing to accommodate family responsibilities, workers in need of time for training or a flexible transition to retirement through reduced working time. It may also provide a means of reintegration into the labour market for the long-term unemployed. On the other hand, there is the risk that such employment may lead to the creation of a kind of secondary labour market, lacking the same levels of social security cover as a result of minimum hourly thresholds for access to entitlements including training, proportionately lower pay, and the inability of these employees to participate in the collective bargaining process. Moreover, regulatory attempts by governments to create employment by reducing the charges payable on part-time labour can encourage over-reliance on such labour, to the detriment of full-time jobs.

(d) Measures to alleviate the negative impact of non-standard working arrangements

In Australia, research in 1996 showed that casual workers accounted for over 50 per cent of employees in the industry. The unions responded by advocating the replacement of casual jobs with permanent, part-time posts, thus seeking an improvement in, rather than the elimination of, part-time work.^[111] The rates of pay received by casual employees remained higher than those paid to permanent part-time workers, but did not include benefits such as paid holidays. Some employees enjoyed the very wide degree of flexibility offered by casual employment, while for employers it presented the advantage of allowing them to dismiss employees without a period of notice. As a result of union activity, some industry agreements were reached, containing an explicit management and union commitment to convert casual hours to permanent, part-time hours, but enforcement has remained limited. These agreements have still not enhanced workers’ access to training, and they continue to provide considerable potential for highly irregular working hours.

An example of good practice is provided by the Granada Entertainment and Hotel Group in the United Kingdom, which owns several theme parks, nightclubs and hotels. The group has extended to its part-time employees, who represent 50per cent of the workforce, the same rights and privileges as those enjoyed by full-time employees. Annual performance reviews are carried out for all workers, and the company has introduced formal training for part-time employees to enable them to study for national vocational qualifications.^[112]

Another case in point is the Netherlands, where working hours have been made very flexible. Although hotel, restaurant and catering workers may have to work irregular hours, theyreportedlyhave anincreasingchoice available to them. A law has also recently been passed according to which workers have the right under certain conditions to switch to part-time work should they choose to do so.^[113]

In areas where the seasonal element of the trade is particularly marked, and where the hotels or restaurants will only function during a limited period of the year, tourist establishments are obliged to close during the low season, with many of the staff, including hotel and restaurant owners, drawing unemployment benefit. The Scottish winter sports centre at Aviemore has made considerable headway in countering this problem by promoting itself as a centre for “green” tourism and an ideal base from which to explore the surrounding Cairngorm region. The area has undertaken this promotion in partnership with conservation societies to ensure the sustainability of the venture, and much of the business now takes place during the summer months.

3.7. Employment effects of more recent forms of tourism

(a) Cultural tourism and ecotourism

The rise of these forms of tourism, in which indigenous peoples also play a role, reflects an interest in other environments, ways of life and cultures. Moreover, it reflects a desire on the part of the tourist for more socially responsible types of tourism, underscoring the idea that some profits shouldbe returned to indigenous peoples in the form of income, and in keeping with environmental concerns.

Ecotourism is a fruitful source of jobs and, if provided with the appropriate means, can provide lasting employment in regions not reached by other industries. Local inhabitants can be employed as guides and rangers, in the lodges or hotels created to deal with the influx of tourists, or as interpreters. Labour is required to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to open up access to the regions in question. The economic benefits to remote communities, if carefully managed and shared fairly among the local people, can be used sensitively to raise educational and living standards without obliterating local culture. Local populations also have great expertise in the conservation of their own surroundings and may therefore be well employed as experts on the safeguarding of the biodiversity in their regions.

Research suggests that ecotourism is growing substantially. A 1996 report by the United States Departments of the Interior and Commerce found that expenditure on wildlife-watching trips rose by 21 per cent between 1991 and 1996. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande River in the south-western part of the country attracts 100,000 visitors annually and contributes around US$14 million to the local economy each year.^[114] The State of Texas has been promoting this type of tourism, having realized that its rare and varied flora and fauna represent a unique natural capital. A task force established to investigate the question defined such tourism as “discretionary travel to natural areas that conserves the environmental, social and cultural values, while generating an economic benefit to the local community”.^[115]

In Africa, safari tours have existed for many years, but over time negative effects have become apparent, and a more careful approach has been adopted in certain cases. An example is Kenya, where the Masai people were evicted from their traditional lands in 1984 to make way for conservation and safari tourism. As a result, the Masai began poaching and killing the wild animals, in the belief that this would stop tourists coming and they would get their lands back. Negotiation concluded with the Masai people by a Kenyan organization, Porini Ecotourism (in association with a British tour operator), resulted in the Masai receiving a rent for the lease of their land, plus an entry fee for each tourist visitor. In an inspired piece of reconversion, skilled members of the Masai who had been active in tracking and killing wild animals are now engaged as game scouts and guides and, as wildlife watching has grown, poaching has declined.Subsidiary employment effects include jobs in transportation and building and as hotel and catering staff in the many safari lodges in the area. The profits realized by this system are used for the maintenance of boreholes, animal husbandry and education for the Masai. Tourism can thus be seen to work for the local population, both in terms of providing job opportunities and in raising education and training levels.^[116]

One of the challenges presented by ecotourism is not just the creation of employment in remote areas, but the offer of higher quality opportunities for indigenous people. In Brazil, local people were initially employed in lower paid, less visible positions in hotels and lodges, since they had little notion of how to deal with tourists. Subsequently, the Brazilian Ministry of Labour, with funds from FAT (the Worker Assistance Fund), established the National Professional Tourism Education Programme. Over the past three years the programme has been used to provide a large body of professionals in various tourism-related activities and is expected to lead to greater numbers of local people being engaged in employment in national parks and reserves.^[117]

Similarly, in Uganda, the Budongo Forest Ecotourism Project (BFEP) was started in 1993 with the specific intention of involving the local population in forest conservation. Local communities were included in discussions regarding the planning of the project and encouraged to participate in its development and management. By 1997, 28 local people (eight women and 20 men) were employed by the project. The women work as guides, facilitators and caretakers, and the men perform similar tasks, as well as working as trail cutters. Women are able to sell their craftwork at the tourist sites to supplement their income; six primary schools have received assistance through funds provided by the project, while the local community is provided with a forum in which to resolve its conflicts with the Forest Department.^[118]

(b) Negative effects of ecotourism

In western Malaysia, the Taman Negara National Park is a privately owned park and resort which can house 260 visitors at a time. The park employs 270 people and 60 per cent of the staff in the administrative headquarters are locals, who in 1999 earned about US$120 a month; by comparison, Malaysians living off the land at that time were earning on average about US$40 a month. Despite the positive employment effects, the differences in income between the two groups have led to social tension and driven up boat fares and the cost of everyday goods. Little of the tourism money goes to the country of destination, while park employees spend almost 90 per cent of their income outside the region or on imported goods. Thus local inhabitants, whose culture has been marketed to attract tourists, benefit only to a very limited extent. Indeed, many have taken to illegal hunting and fishing in the park, contrary to the protective regulations established by the park authorities.^[119] There is a clear need to establish guidelines and engage local people in dialogue to ensure that the regions and their populations benefit from the tourists’ visits.

(c) Adventure tourism

Activities such as biking, horse riding, trekking, rafting and kayaking, as well as relatively high-risk and more recent sports such as canyoning, are becoming increasingly popular. The Adventure Travel Society, based in Colorado, estimates that the industry expanded by 38 per cent between 1991 and 1997, generating US$220 billion through sales of adventure travel and associated equipment. A number of vocational training institutions – for example, the Nelson Polytechnic in Wellington, New Zealand – are offering courses in adventure tourism, which shows the rising popularity of the field and points to possibilities for employment as accompaniers, monitors and guides. In India also, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) has decided to set up three adventure sports/tourism academies to provide two-year courses to train skilled adventure tourism personnel. The KTDC operates three adventure tour camps near Bangalore and has difficulty finding staff to operate the camps. The training institutions are to be run by private sector partners and adventure tourism companies, but the KTDC plans to arrange tour operator sponsorships for the students, linked to employment following completion of their courses.^[120]

(d) Rural or nature tourism

The globalization of agriculture markets has placed a strain on certain domestic markets, at the same time as agreements within the World Trade Organization have reduced subsidies to producers and liberalized trade. Farmers in traditionally agrarian areas of Europe have had to seek alternative means of supplementing their income. This may partly explain the rise of rural and nature tourism. In the United Kingdom, it is estimated that 90 per cent of all farms provide some form of tourist accommodation, while the figures also show that 25 per cent of European holidays are taken in rural, as opposed to coastal, areas.^[121] The break-up of farming collectives in countries in transition to a market economy has also encouraged the spread of rural tourism establishments.

The sector remains largely unstructured. It is characterized by large numbers of owner-operators who expand their activities to include the provision of board and lodging. While it may stabilize a precarious financial situation for a population whose income has fallen, its effect in terms of job creation is doubtful. This is not to underestimate its popularity: in 1997, the French public spent a total of 315million nights in rural vacation areas in France. French rural lodging includes 76,715 hotel rooms, 55,000 beds in vacation villages (villages de vacances), 237,558places in campsites, 41,868 rentable country residences (gîtes ruraux), 1,500 hiking lodges (gîtes d’étapes) and 21,466 bed and breakfast rooms.^[122] In Italy also, agritourism is seen as a means of providing or supplementing livelihoods, and a list of farms and other establishments providing this service is available from the Italian State Tourist Board. In Cyprus, a plan for the development of such tourism was launched in 1991 and has resulted in the establishment of 30 traditional holiday centres with a capacity of 300 beds.^[123] In this instance, most of these centres remain open throughout the year, although in most countries rural tourism is marked by a strong degree of seasonality. In India, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation has introduced a “bed and breakfast” concept in Coorg and Chikmagalur near Bangalore, where there are very few hotels but many large private residences where house owners could provide paying-guest accommodation. The scheme has proved successful and is to be extended to other parts of the State.^[124]

The professional part of the sector appears keen to safeguard itself from what might constitute unfair competition, since the type of rural establishments described do not have to meet the same standards as fully fledged hotels. The 1995 Joint ECF-IUF and HOTREC Declaration on tourism in rural areas, while recognizing the decline in agricultural employment and the growing demand for countryside holidays, seeks to protect the hotel industry from any imbalance which might be caused by subsidizing the rural sector. The Declaration stresses that the development of rural tourism “should at all times be market-led rather than grant-led”, and that “no form of tourism should be supported to the detriment of another”.^[125]

3.8. Policies to strengthen the tourism sector and the employment effects of such policies

(a) Regulatory and deregulatory measures

The proliferation of regulations in the HCT sector is increasingly a subject of debate in certain regions such as the European Union.^[126] In the United Kingdom, one estimate suggests that a small restaurant must comply with 86 Acts of Parliament.^[127] In France, where the rule concerning smoking areas in public eating establishments has been poorly applied and, perhaps as a consequence, widely ignored, enforcement of many European Union regulations will be slow, since the premises in which restaurants are installed cannot be brought into line with the required standards so soon. This will inevitably cause problems for many small enterprises, especially those established in old buildings. These will disappear from the sector if the regulations are rigorously implemented, with obvious employment consequences, at least in the short and medium term. The HOTREC has compiled “200European Union measures affecting the hotel, restaurant and café sector”, most of which will be or have already been implemented through national legislation. The industry in the European Union is concerned that they will adversely affect its ability to compete with other countries. United Kingdom employers are expressing concern about the European Working Time Directive, while in France, the more stringent requirements of the 35-hour week are reportedly causing problems for employers. Consequently, the United Kingdom’s Ministry for Tourism in September 2000 announced the establishment of a new group to provide far simpler guidelines to regulate the industry. It has also suggested that a task force be established to perform a similar function at European level. Switzerland’s Federal Council in January 1997 presented a programme designed to reduce the burden of “red tape” on SMEs.^[128] A number of European Union and other OECD countries have already engaged in a deregulatory process.

(b) Taxation of business in the hotel, catering and tourism sector

The industry is in favour of ongoing tourism investment and accepts the need for effective taxation. However, large increases in tax on international tourism and travel, which is basically an indirect tax on export earnings, cannot be implemented without an impact on levels of business, and consequently on employment. The globalization of the economy and the ease with which we can now move about the world will only serve to highlight this, as comparative costs of different destinations become apparent through ICT. Recent WTTC figures reveal, however, that between 1994 and 1999, taxes increased in 42 out of 52 destinations, stayed level in two and decreased in eight. The WTTC is of the opinion that industry growth, investment and job creation is most likely to occur in destinations with supportive tax regimes.^[129]

The European Union allows a lower rate of value added tax (VAT) on accommodation and certain other tourism and leisure facilities. Ireland chose to lower VAT on accommodation and restaurants in the 1980s, and it is estimated that this led to the creation of 30,000 jobs in the industry. A 1997 study by Deloitte and Touche concluded that reducing VAT in all sectors of the tourism industry would result in the creation of 50,000 jobs. The WTO argues that reductions of this sort, by improving international competitiveness, can also result in higher total tax receipts, rather than the opposite.

Within the European Union, the situation regarding taxation is highly complex, with different rates of VAT and other taxes applying in different countries, and different rates applied within countries depending on the sectors. A similar situation prevails elsewhere. In India (Tamil Nadu State), a luxury tax of 25per cent has been imposed on hotels with a tariff of more than Rs.1,000, and Tamil Nadu is thus placed at a disadvantage compared to neighbouring States, where taxes of 15 per cent or less are applied. Travel agencies offering packages will clearly link up with hotels charging lower taxes.^[130] The industry therefore sees a need for reductions in taxes that are perceived to be damaging productivity, and for harmonization of taxation levels, not only within the European Union, but at international level. The 1999 Joint ECF-IUF and HOTREC Declaration for the promotion of employment in the European hotel and restaurant sector^[131] refers (in section II.2a) to the need for a “level playing field”, stating that many countries now competing with the European Union as tourist destinations, particularly the non-European Union Central and Eastern European and Mediterranean countries, “do not pay European Union level VAT, energy taxes, environmental taxes, social charges and the numerous other taxes and charges which burden European enterprises”.

(c) Importance of SMEs in the HCT sector

The last two decades have seen a growing recognition of the important role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in employment creation and the promotion of economic growth and development. The general characteristics, potential and problems of SMEs have been a subject of debate within the ILO for many years. A comprehensive discussion on the subject took place at the 72nd Session of the International Labour Conference in 1986, which adopted a resolution concerning the promotion of SMEs.^[132] This was followed by more recent discussions on the subject in the context of the promotion of self-employment at the 77th Session of the Conference in 1990 and at several recent regional conferences, including the Eighth African Regional Conference in 1994. Finally, the topic was included on the agenda of the 85th Session of the International Labour Conference in 1997, leading to the adoption in June 1998 of the Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 (No.189). These debates reflect the extent to which the focus on the enterprise is central to the ILO approach to economic growth, job creation and decent work, an approach exemplified by the InFocus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development.^[133]

SMEs form the majority of enterprises throughout the world in general and in the tourism and hospitality industry in particular.^[134] The characteristics of SMEs in the tourism industry include flexibility, direct control of service delivery, personalized and tailor-made service, entrepreneurial activity, strong local character, willingness to cater for special interest groups, employment of family members, flexible timetables and multiskilled personnel.^[135]

SMEs play an important role in the European hotel and catering sector, as seen from table 3.4. The average number of employees per enterprise ranges from 3.3 to 7.5, except in the United Kingdom, where it can be up to ten. The table also shows that, with the exception of the United Kingdom, receipts per person correlate positively with the average size of enterprises, that is, SMEs generate less income per employee than larger enterprises.

Table 3.4.The hotel and catering sector in the European Union in 1996 – Average size of enterprises by employment and receipts

(d) Support to small enterprises

SMEs, because of their fragmented nature, lack opportunities to make economies of scale. They are often operated by non-professionals who lack the marketing skills required to optimize their business opportunities, and they experience difficulties in gaining access to training. The Tourism Conference held from 20 to 22 May 1998 in Llandudno under the United Kingdom’s Presidency of the European Union, proposed a ten-point framework for action in support of SMEs in tourism. These recommendations were aimed, among other things, at modernizing the sector in the light of globalization by raising awareness among SMEs of business support systems, information technology and the possibilities open to them in respect of finance, and by providing affordable possibilities for better training for managers/owners and staff.

Governments seek to create an enabling environment for SMEs. In this respect, the move noted previously towards a simplification of the regulations governing the sector is positive, since the high cost, in both time and money, of lengthy administrative procedures raises difficulties for small structures. However, this does not mean that social objectives should be undermined. The European Union High Level Group on Tourism and Employment has called for a Community initiative which “promotes the development of innovative tourist businesses by young entrepreneurs”.^[136] Large hotel chains are able to establish their own training programmes, often by linking up with public or private education and training establishments. Governments may also provide assistance to SMEs unable to upgrade their employees’ skills themselves. One example from the United Kingdom is the Tourism Opportunities Programme (TOPS), which was set up to provide public sector subsidized training. The scheme provides affordable training in areas where individual hotels could not justify creating specialist courses, and may thus benefit from economies of scale.^[137]

Large hotel groups such as Accor and Radisson have their own central reservation systems (CRSs) which the public can access via the Internet. While a degree of interactive reservation may come to the SME sector, especially in view of the potential marketing possibilities provided by the World Wide Web, SMEs are for the time being largely dependent on traditional distribution channels. Through their tourist offices, many governments provide networking and marketing services for their hotels and tourist establishments at national or regional level, either free of charge or at a reasonable cost. In France and Spain, tourist offices in larger towns and cities are able to give information about availabilities in establishments within the regions they cover. In the United Kingdom, in the London districts of Greenwich and Islington, the visitor and tourist information centres provide information not only regarding the larger hotels, but also on bed and breakfast establishments in their areas. These centres provide an important support mechanism and marketing tool for very small businesses, which might otherwise remain marginal.^[138] The problem of how to classify the levels of service provided in such establishments is another area in which governments could act.

(e) Access to credit

Finance is a recurring problem for small enterprises. The entrepreneurs concerned may have no professional background or training, and this naturally deters banks. Their financing requirements tend to be small, with consequently higher transaction costs for banks, and such businesses also have a problem finding guaranteed collateral. Many governments intervene by providing interest rate subsidies or guarantees to lending institutions, and some governments, as in India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines, have imposed minimum quotas on financial institutions for loans to SMEs. Experience has shown, however, that the underlying problem for small entrepreneurs is not the cost of credit, but obtaining access to it via the lending institutions.^[139]

(f) Policies concerning the informal sector

According to ILO estimates, the informal sector worldwide employs about 500million workers.^[140] With the process of globalization, the informal sector is gaining importance as a result of its job creation capacity. It generated 80 per cent of new jobs in Latin America between 1990 and 1994, while in Africa it was expected to produce 93 per cent of new jobs in the 1990s.^[141] These employment trends give an idea of the number of workers engaged in unorganized and unprotected jobs, most of them with low income and often poor working conditions.

Since the industry is a labour-intensive sector, the high labour costs may be one reason for recourse to undeclared work in some areas, and employers have criticized governments for failing to integrate informal sector activities into the formal sector. Hotels and restaurants, by providing entry-level employment, play a role in bringing workers from the informal sector into a more formalized labour market, and employers argue that lower labour costs would increase this effect.

The ILO National Workshop on the Strategic Approach to Job Creation in the Urban Informal Sector in India^[142] has considered a new approach to the informal sector which reflects current thinking in that country. Recent estimates suggest that the informal sector accounts for 90 per cent of new jobs in the country. Both employers and workers at the workshop were concerned at the increasing informalization of labour in the economy. One solution to the problem would be to increase the capacity of the sector to offer decent employment, extending social protection as widely as possible to avoid compromising social objectives. This would involve transfers of technology, efforts to increase the informal sector’s access to training, credit and markets, and measures to ensure that workers’ interests are represented through social dialogue mechanisms.

3.9.Vulnerable groups

The situation of some particularly vulnerable groups of workers is a key issue in view of the technological changes occurring in the hotel and tourism industry. The ILO’s World Employment Report 1998-99,^[143] which deals with national policies in a global context, stressed the need for equity in reform programmes to ensure that vulnerable groups benefit from the processes of globalization in general and from new economic opportunities created by market reforms in particular. Tourism employment is an alternative to traditional and more rigorous work, such as agriculture or fishing, and provides both men and women with greater occupational choices.

(a) Young people

Young people who are marginalized are generally poor, with little education and training. Migration also tends to exacerbate the process of marginalization. Eighty-five per cent of young people live in developing countries, and that proportion is expected to increase to about 89 per cent by 2020. UNESCO estimates that approximately 96 million young women and 57 million young men are illiterate, the majority in developing countries. AIDS also increases the vulnerability of the young: the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) notes that over a third of the 30 million people with the HIV infection or full-blown AIDS are aged between 10 and 24 years.^[144]

The number of younger people employed in formal sector tourism, either as “apprentices” in fast-food chains such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut or as casual workers in occasional or seasonal employment in catering, is also growing rapidly. These types of labour have raised concerns regarding contraventions of labour regulations such as those concerning the minimum legal working age.^[145]

Research into the Australian youth labour market shows that the impact of labour market deregulation on young workers in the hospitality industry has caused increased income insecurity, wage polarization and deteriorating conditions of employment. Full-time permanent employment is being replaced by part-time and casual work, and average weekly earnings for teenagers in full-time employment have fallen compared to those of young and older adults.^[146]

(b) Women

ILO estimates dating back to 1983 indicated that a third of the global workforce in tourism was made up of women. According to more recent estimates, the proportion of women in the tourism industry (excluding the informal sector) has risen to 46 per cent, while in catering and accommodation they represent over 90 per cent of all employees. They occupy the lower levels of the occupational structure in the tourism labour market, with few career development opportunities and low levels of remuneration (some estimates suggest that wages for women are up to 20 per cent lower than those for men). The greater incidence of unemployment among women is attributed to their low skill levels and their low social status in many poor countries. They also tend to be the first affected when labour retrenchment occurs as a result of recession or adjustment to new technology. It should also be noted that the majority of workers in subcontracted, temporary, casual or part-time employment are women. For differences in remuneration between men and women, see Appendix 2.

(c) Child labour

Child labour is a matter of grave concern, robbing children of their childhood, stunting their growth and hindering the development of their countries ^[147] An estimated 13-19 million children and young people below 18 years of age (10-15 per cent of all employees in tourism) are employed in the industry worldwide.^[148] However, these figures take no account of the number of children working in the informal sector in ancillary activities. Other estimates also suggest the extent and scale of the phenomenon in the industry.^[149]

Child labour in tourism is common in both developing and in developed countries. Many boys and girls below 12 years of age are engaged in small business activities related to hotels and restaurants, the entertainment sector or the souvenir trade, often as porters or street or beach vendors. They are frequently subjected to harsh working and employment conditions.Table 3.5shows the principal occupations of children and young people in tourism.

Table 3.5.Occupations of children and young people in tourism

It is estimated that about 2 million children throughout the world are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and thus exposed to such concomitant risks as HIV infection. Tourism must bear its share of responsibility for this trade.^[150]

There are many factors which can drive families and children away from their homes towards poles of tourist attraction in city centres or coastal regions. Those factors include: civil or national conflicts; ethnic rivalries; family breakdown; excessive urbanization which aggravates overcrowding and creates a range of social ills; diminishing agricultural resources; and other severe economic hardships, such as rising unemployment, national financial crises, and cutbacks in subsidies or other measures introduced under structural adjustment programmes. Child refugees from Somalia and Rwanda are exploited in a number of ways on the beaches of Mombasa. Active recruitment and trafficking agents are a factor in all this, but the lure of consumerism and its images cannot be ignored. These are all underlying reasons which help to explain why children and young people are driven into exploitative employment in the tourism industry, or, worse still, in the sex trade, which operates very lucratively in the tourist centres of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the transition countries.^[151]

Child sex tourism

The sexual exploitation of children of both sexes, as practised through child prostitution and child pornography, forms a sometimes hidden part of the overall commercial sex sector. Although a worldwide phenomenon, it is more prevalent in Asia than elsewhere. In the Philippines, frequently quoted estimates of the number of children involved range from 30,000 to 60,000; a very recent report quotes the figure of 75,000. The United Nations has defined child sex tourism as “tourism organized with the primary purpose of facilitating the effecting of a commercial sexual relationship with a child”.^[152] Certain holiday destinations are now frequented by paedophiles. At national level, pimps, taxi drivers, tour operators (by organizing package sex tours), hotel staff, brothel owners and entertainment establishments all work together to satisfy foreign tourists’ demand for prostitutes. At the international level, agents disseminate information about particular resorts where such practices are commonplace.

Increasing concern over the appalling conditions of child labour have led to the adoption of new international instruments and action plans by the international community.^[153] In 1999, the International Labour Conference unanimously adopted the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), and Recommendation No.190. These instruments declare “the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances” to be one of the worst forms of child labour, and urge ILO member States to take immediate and effective action to prohibit and eliminate it as a matter of priority. The pace of ratification of Convention No. 182 is the fastest in ILO history, with 41ratifications in just over 16 months.

The quest for improved child protection can also be measured by the worldwide concern about child labour that has been expressed in a number of international forums. Among these are: the Stockholm World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, 1996; the European Meeting on the International Dimension of Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Madrid, 1998; the European Meeting of the Main Partners in the Fight against Child Sex Tourism, held in Brussels, 1998; and the UNESCO Expert Meeting on Sexual Abuse of Children, Child Pornography and Paedophilia on the Internet, held in Paris in January 1999. The Global Report on the international dimensions of sexual exploitation of children, which is a follow-up of the Stockholm World Congress, includes recommendations which cover a wide range of measures to protect children from sexual exploitation and ensure that their abusers are properly prosecuted and convicted anywhere in the world. UNICEF has presented a study on extraterritorial criminal laws against child sexual exploitation which includes a series of recommendations on ways of stopping the international market for sex tourists and paedophiles who travel to other countries to exploit children sexually.^[154] The Stockholm World Congress is scheduled to be followed by the second of its type in December 2001 in Yokohama, Japan.

With regard to specific action-oriented initiatives originating from the tourism industry itself, IH&RA participates in a task force against child sex tourism coordinated by the World Tourism Organization along with other trade association partners such as the Universal Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and non-governmental organizations such as ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking). Apart from setting up its own task force in 1996 to confront the problem of child labour and running an awareness-raising campaign which provides guidelines on how operators and associations can combat child sex tourism, IH&RA is also involved in the work on a code of conduct for the protection of children against commercial sexual exploitation, initiated by ECPAT Sweden and a number of Swedish tour operators along with the partners mentioned above. The Youth Career Development Programme launched jointly by the Singapore-based Pan-Pacific Hotels and Resorts Group and UNICEF in 1995 is another commendable initiative. This 20-week programme sets as its objective the provision of basic skills in the hospitality industry and long-term social and economic security for young girls exposed to the risk of commercial sexual exploitation.^[155]

Trade unions have also undertaken action against child sex tourism. The IUF has drawn up a model collective agreement aimed at preventing child sex tourism for use by its affiliated organizations in the tourism industry.^[156]