The push is on to attract more Caymanians into the tourism industry.
In fact, Minister for Tourism Charles Clifford is already noting a change, he told attendees of the annual tourism conference at the Marriott Beach Resort Thursday.
‘We have seen an increase in interest by young Caymanians in the tourism industry, and particularly young Caymanians,’ he said in answer to a question from the floor relating to the low number of Caymanians in tourism.
‘We have never before had this number of young Caymanians in universities overseas studying tourism subjects. I know at one time we had about 25 to 30 Caymanians students at various universities around the world studying tourism management subjects,’ he said.
‘When we talk about what visitors are coming here to see and the fact that they want to interact with Caymanians and want Caymanian experiences, then we want to make sure that we attract more Caymanians into this industry and we have a deliberate strategy in place to make that happen.’
He mentioned ongoing efforts by the government in this vein.
But he also noted that this does not mean that in 10 years’ time there will be 80 per cent of the industry staffed by Caymanians.
‘There is significantly more demand for labour than Caymanians to fill those positions in the tourism industry, as well as in all the other sectors, that it will have to be a mix of Caymanians and migrant workers because this country has grown so rapidly. The growth of the country has significantly outpaced the population growth and I don’t know that there’s any way to reverse that now.
‘But we intend to do what we can to address the human capital aspect of tourism through the Human Capital Development programme, the apprenticeship programme and scholarships,’ he said.
Mr. Clifford spoke about his approach to sustainable tourism, addressing the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental considerations. Commenting on the social aspect, he said that education and human capital development for tourism have been a focal point under this government. This year, he said, the government has committed funds of over $1.5 million towards human capital development projects and programmes for the tourism industry, including scholarships.
He spoke about the work of DoT’s human capital development unit, which focuses on tourism education, tourism training and tourism awareness; also, the first 20 apprentices on the Tourism Apprenticeship Training Programme started their classes. He invited more private sector organisations to get on board with this programme for the work experience aspect of it. The Advisory Council, which helped develop the programme, is made up of public and private sector members. This programme, he said, is a long term sustainable programme that will provide qualified tourism ambassadors to the country.
The National Service Excellence Standards are also being currently rolled out in two of 14 sub-sectors: accommodations and Cayman Airways, and is to bring customer service levels from good to great in the Cayman Islands.
The destination advisory programme will assist in the branding of this standards programme. The Minister announced that the name and logo of PRIDE has been chosen for this. It stands for Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence.
In her presentation DoT’s Deputy Director Product Development Sharon Banfield said the programme ‘has the potential to make a big impact on our tourism industry and on the destination as a whole’.
In her presentation, President of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association Karie Bergstrom, with data from the economics and statistics office, calculated that out of over 17,000 Caymanians in the labour force, just 14 per cent are in the tourism sector (restaurants and bars, hotels and condos, and retail).
Also, within the tourism sector there are approximately 2,539 or 43 per cent Caymanians and 3,356 or 57 per cent non-Caymanians (in restaurants, bars hotels and condos and retail).
In looking at these statistic Ms Bergstrom said, ‘Realistically I think we can do more to take that pie chart to an even split.’
She spoke about the need for a very strong partnership between education, businesses and government in developing human capital.
She outlined the Ritz-Carlton’s ambitious goal of doubling its percentage of Caymanian employees over the next two years. They have designed several initiatives to help them reach this goal such as Hospitality in Training, which makes trainees fully qualified in their position at the end of the programme, a one-year apprenticeship.
In the past year they had 12 Caymanians complete the programme; four of those have gone off to university to focus on hospitality; four graduated to full time jobs at the RCGC and four decided not to pursue hospitality as a career.
‘They look like such small numbers, but (look at) the success of this programme in just one year, and if this continues and it grows and grows, just imagine how that pie chart can change, and this is just an initiative of one property,’ said Ms Bergstrom.
She spoke about the CITA’s launching of the Caribcert programme, which was developed by the CHA as a certification programme for Caribbean tourism professionals, and through which the TATP is also accredited.
CITA will be the administrator of the programme for those that sign-up and will provide guidance, co-ordinate exams and issue certificate and pin upon completion.
But despite all these efforts there are still stumbling blocks and barriers that don’t encourage people to enter the hospitality industry, she said, such as working long hours and over weekends and holidays, and gratuity not being reliable income.
The key to achieving goals in this area is the public/private sector partnerships, but CITA members need to do more, Ms Bergstrom said, in pitching the diverse range of jobs available within tourism.
Director of Tourism Pilar Bush said, in a debate about pay within the industry, that while Caymanians deserve an equal opportunity to be considered for a job they must demonstrate that they are as good if not better than the other candidates, and they should not expect to be given a job or promotion simply because they are Caymanians, but should, rather, work hard towards their goals.
‘My point of view is that if we (Caymanians) are going to a be a minority in the workforce we should earn our way to the managerial or ownership minority and that way this whole issue of cost is less of a burden on us and we can actually make a difference for other Caymanians’.
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