Heightened expectations from a rapidly expanding customer base can only be satisfied by a tourism industry which is competitive, adaptable and responsive. Over the next seven years the effectiveness of human resource strategies within the industry will determine the degree to which tourism can sustain recent success and projected future growth.
The need to enhance human resources in the tourism sector is fully recognised in the National Development Plan 2000-2006, which includes provision for a specific tourism training measure under the employability and adaptability sub-programmes. The aim of these measures will be to enable the tourism industry to continue to attract more new entrants, including from the ranks of the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged, and support human resource development within the sector to maintain quality customer service and competitiveness. These measures will facilitate CERT, the national training agency for the sector, in delivering a comprehensive programme of training and will also provide it with the opportunity to further develop its own role as leader and facilitator for tourism in attaining world class standards of human resource management and service delivery.
CERT will provide programmes to facilitate the transition from second level education to job placement by way of full-time craft courses. This will deliver a stream of highly qualified personnel to the sector and the plan is to increase recruitment and training throughput under this measure in excess of 25% per annum by 2006 to over 2,000 trainees annually. Other CERT programmes will specifically target groups who are socially excluded such as the long-term unemployed, early school leavers, women wishing to return to paid employment, workers recently made redundant, non-nationals and older age groups.
Additional InformationA comprehensive range of flexible and accessible initiatives will be provided at local level, leading to recognised qualifications and sustainable employment for these trainees.
The industry also needs to adapt its approach to human resource management to take account of the potential now on offer to personnel, entering or already within the industry, for career progression and development as a result of a much expanded, competitively driven industry. Future CERT programmes under this measure will facilitate the raising and maintenance of the highest operational standards in tourism and as such will provide training or development intervention for persons already working in industry. The primary areas of focus will be human resource management and operational best practice.
The overall objective of the tourism and training measure over the period 2000 to 2006 is to provide the industry with the necessary human resource management and operational skills to facilitate businesses becoming self-sustaining in terms of recruiting, retraining and developing staff and in improving competitiveness through continuous learning. Overall it is planned to double the existing pool in trained trainers within the industry from just over 2,000 at present to circa 5,000 by 2006. In addition, it is planned to double the population of human resource professionals employed within the industry over the early years of the plan and to encourage training and development through this network. It is also planned to increase the number of employees pursuing advanced training through colleges. Almost £110 million has been allocated for the purposes of implementing these tourism training measures over the period of the national development plan.