TMS urges China’s travel/hospitality industry
With KPMG statistics predicting China will face working age population contraction by 2016, TMS Asia-Pacific has urged the country’s booming travel and hospitality industry to take prompt action to address and manage its growth-related labour issues before it is too late.
TMS General Manager, Asia, Andrew Chan said China, already the world’s fourth most popular destination, was on the brink of claiming the number one spot.
This position, he said, would be firmly cemented in place over the next three years, boosted by the country’s staging of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2010 World EXPO in Shanghai.
But while creating a major windfall for China’s hospitality and travel sector, Mr Chan said the development has also created a job heavy environment in which employers were now finding it increasingly harder to locate and retain qualified staff on a local basis.
This, he said, was a major concern already affecting other countries in the region.
“The primary issues for the industry lie in the area of staff training and development and staff shortages,” Mr Chan said.
“In the first place, staff are being fast tracked far too quickly to accommodate gaps within an organisation.
“This had resulted in a situation where many employers are now being forced to rethink staff selection criteria in order to fill vacancies.
“And this, potentially, could lead to a situation where overall service levels begin to drop.
“In addition to this, companies are already struggling to retain their staff as salary levels are being constantly driven upwards as employees leave to chase higher salaries or are lured away by recruiters looking to engage qualified staff for their clients.
“The Chinese travel and hospitality industry would do well to take these factors on board as the country steps up into the international limelight with the world class events it has planned over the coming years,” he said.
*KPMG Property Advisory, US Census Bureau research findings forecast the working age population of several Asian countries will begin contracting into negative growth over the coming 10 years.
These include South Korea which will reach the negative growth point in 2015 followed by China in 2016 and Singapore in 2017.
The report also forecast similar negative growth scenarios for Thailand by 2025 and Indonesia by 2035.
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