BANGKOK - A new analysis of the current and future state of employment in the Asia and Pacific tourism sector is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it shows that some 3 million jobs in tourism have been lost since 2001. On the other hand, the ILO sounded hopeful that the worst might be over - barring any unforeseen developments.
An earlier study, "New Threats to Employment in the Travel and Tourism Industry - 2003", shows that worldwide, SARS, together with economic and security concerns, threatened to eliminate some 5 million tourism jobs in 2003, on top of some 6.5 million jobs lost in the sector during the 2001-02 crisis. At the Bangkok meeting, delegates heard new reports indicating that in spite of a strong recovery of the tourism industry in the Asia and Pacific Region right after the end of SARS, the year 2003 would probably close with little or no growth. The report indicates that the shakeout might end in 2004, with an expected rise in tourism in some areas which were badly hit by a fall-off in arrivals during 2002 and 2003, and with a recovery of high growth rates for China. Jobs in the region, however, would not be retrieved fully in the short term due to new working arrangements and increased productivity.
Participants in the ILO tripartite meeting discussed ways of enhancing the potential of the tourism and travel industry to create and secure employment, provide working conditions in accordance with the ILO Decent Work Agenda, and improve policies and practices regarding human resources development in the hotel, catering and tourism sector, especially in view of possible new crises.
Among the conclusions of the discussion were that tourism products and markets should diversify in order to make the sector less vulnerable to crises. The development of ecotourism, rural tourism, hinterland tourism and other products should be supported to create or maintain employment and promote the sustainable development of enterprises.
The meeting also indicated that workers need improved training in order to carry out their work and improve their careers, or to move elsewhere within the industry, adding that such workforce mobility should be a win-win situation for employers and workers alike.
Though a resurgence of SARS in 2004 has not been ruled out, the Asian Development Bank said in a separate report that the effect would be milder, since most governments were now better prepared to deal with the disease. There is also much confidence in the industry and among its stakeholders that security threats will be handled more efficiently in the future, and that their perception by customers, tour operators and relevant institutions will be more realistic. The fact remains, however, that the travel and tourism industry has not created new jobs since the region's 1997-98 economic crisis. Hope that this would change seems to be fading away. In its place, there was a strong sense of will among the tripartite partners gathered by the ILO, to develop social dialogue institutions which could ease the social hardship from any crises to come, but also make better use of the industry's employment potential in normal times.
Conclusions from the ILO Tripartite Regional Meeting on Employment in Tourism can be downloaded in their entirety from: www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors/tourism.htm#Heading00
Note 1: Australia, Cambodia, People's Republic of China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.