Trying to fill the vacancies

The tourism industry, in all its ramifications, still seems to have plenty of potential for new job creation. It's a highly labour intensive industry, with many areas depending on personal skills; three-quarters of the people working in tourism interface directly with customers.

Raymund O'Connor, director of CERT, the State tourism training agency, says that the recent growth in job numbers should continue next year. "There are plenty of developments still to come," he says, adding that the trend in Dublin, where a major new hotel opens every month, seems set to continue. Quite a number of the major international hotel chains remain to be represented here.

But the tourism industry isn't all hotels. Many other different types of accommodation supplement hotels; then there are the innumerable restaurants, another expanding area. It's not quite tourism, but industrial catering is another big area, with a width and depth of skills required that matches the best hotels.

The common denominator, across practically every sector in tourism, except most of the tourist attractions, is catering. As Raymund O'Connor says, a good chef can practically devise his or her own salary cheque. Another incentive in this sector is that it's comparatively easy for chefs to go on and open up their own establishments: many can and do.

But the big problem with tourism is that there just aren't enough people to fill all the job vacancies. Mr O'Connor speaks of the new Merrion Hotel in Dublin. At least three of the key personnel he knows there are very well qualified Irish people who've come back from abroad.

He says that this is what the industry as a whole needs to do: encourage more Irish people working in tourism in many countries abroad to come home.

Raymund O'Connor also points out that the demand for staff is countrywide, despite the hype about Dublin being the big growth area in Irish tourism. Admittedly, it does have the largest percentage of tourism jobs, at 24 per cent, with the south-west coming a close second, at 19 per cent.

The total number of jobs in tourism is something of a movable feast, since different sources come up with different figures. However, CERT reckons that around 200,000 people work in the industry. That figure includes pubs, the biggest employer, with just under 80,000 people. One of the great attractions of tourism, adds Mr O'Connor, is that it can quickly and economically provide new jobs anywhere in the country.

CERT's 1996 survey showed that 49 per cent of jobs in tourism are skilled and 29 per cent are unskilled. A total of 17 per cent are managers.

In the meantime, a growing number of non-nationals are working in Irish tourism. No exact figures are available. Two schools of thought exist: one abhors the trend, while others approve. Raymund O'Connor says it's not a new trend - it's been going on for 40 and 50 years and longer. In many respects, it's been beneficial, as with the arrival of many French chefs in Ireland over the years. They have helped bring up the standard of Irish cuisine to its present generally high levels of excellence.

As long as non-nationals contribute to the skills that are needed in the Irish industry, that's fine. In many instances, they can be a positive asset, asserts Mr O'Connor, as with a hotel doing a lot of business in the French market. A French national working for it in Ireland would be a decided advantage. But he issues a word of warning: "It's not a better route if non-nationals are exploited."

Hotels offer the widest range of jobs, from front of house, where they are in direct competition with the secretarial sector, to waiting staff, chefs and other kitchen workers, accommodation personnel and people to work on the ever-growing conference and functions side of the business. Other areas of the industry can give opportunities to people with different types of qualification. History graduates can be very appropriate for visitor attractions.

Some perceptions of the tourism industry are simply not true, says Raymund O'Connor. There are quite plentiful areas of low pay, admittedly, but many people, especially in hotels, do enjoy good salaries, enjoying a high level of unionisation in some areas, like Dublin. The industry is unique in another respect, too; permanent staff are needed, but the industry also has an unquenchable demand for casual, part-time staff.

Mr O'Connor says that the tourism industry hasn't sold itself well in terms of conditions of employment and pay. As part of the challenge of getting in more people, he says that employers need to do the same detailed examination of their employment packages as they do of their products sold to the public. They will have to do this in order to help themselves get over the present acute recruitment problem.

Pay and hours aren't the only factors. There's a greater need for more training. It's difficult in tourism, especially when hotels trade for 18 hours a day. They can't just close for training, like retail outlets.

Nevertheless, despite all the problems, the whole industry has seen an increase of around 4 per cent, or some 7,000 people, this year, with a similar increase being forecast for next year. These growth levels are underlined by John Power, chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation. He says that about 4,000 extra bedrooms have been added to the hotel stock in the State this year, creating at least 2,000 new jobs. Similar expansion seems likely for next year; on present evidence, another 3,500 rooms seem probable for 1998.

The recent past has seen some dramatic developments in tourism; the future could be even more exciting. "The largest element has still to happen, the planned national conference centre in Dublin. If it gets off the ground, it will open up a whole new scale of business," concludes Mr O'Connor.