Malaysia – Skills Gap in hotels makes it hard to get workers

The Sabah Hotel Association (SHA) is now experiencing difficulties in recruiting skilled workers to join the hotel industry due to various factors such as rapid room growth in the State.

Its president, Christopher Chan, said the hotel industry in Sabah had gone through major changes both in terms of the number of hotels that have grown and the standard of rooms and facilities which have dramatically improved and modernised over the past 10 years.

“The service standards have improved overall but the problem of trying to maintained it at a consistent level is very challenging.

“Although efforts have been made between the industry players and the relevant government ministries to improve on this issue, the worldwide demand for such quality staff has enticed a lot of Sabahans to seek greener pastures with the higher remuneration offered,” he said at the SHA Carnival Night celebration at The Palace Hotel here on Saturday.

Chan added there is a need to have a long-term strategy in the development of manpower to meet the demand of the industry. Although studies have been done on the issue, SHA had not seen actual action plans being implemented nor discussed with the industry.

Currently, he said there are already over 12,000 rooms in Kota Kinabalu alone with more expected to be available by year-end and next year. To fill up the rooms, SHA is seeking the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment to come up with specific marketing strategies to attract more tourists to Sabah…

via Hotels finding it hard to get skilled workers – BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News | Largest English Daily In Borneo.