A national tourism workforce strategy for the Philippines

The challenge

Philippine tourism was growing fast. Foreign arrivals reached 4.68 million in 2013 (up 9.6% on 2012), and the Department of Tourism (DOT) was aiming for 10 million international arrivals and 56 million domestic travellers by 2016. Tourism industries already employed 4.56 million people, 12% of all jobs. But hotels were reporting hard-to-fill posts, graduates did not match industry needs, skilled staff were leaving for work abroad, and labour law and public-sector capacity were holding back service quality. The National Tourism Development Plan 2011–2016 needed a workforce plan to match it.

What I did

Wrote the national Tourism Human Resource Development Strategy and five-year action plan (2015–2020), aligned with the National Tourism Development Plan so it added to the plan rather than duplicating it. Consulted widely between June 2014 and January 2015: DOT regional directors, tourism councils and associations, HR managers, colleges and universities, CHED, TESDA, DOLE, TIEZA and other agencies in Manila, Cebu, Davao and Palawan, ending with a focus group on the draft action plan in Makati. Drew on two new surveys: the Tourism Employment and Skills Needs report (January 2015, from a survey of over 1,000 employers and staff in Cebu, Bohol, Davao and Palawan) and the DOT Training Needs Analysis (471 staff invited). Built a situation analysis, SWOT and list of HR challenges, then set out a 2020 vision and ten strategic actions with tasks, timings, responsible agencies, indicators and possible funding sources. Presented the draft strategy to the DOT on 10 September 2014. The plan rests on three aims: strengthen education and training institutions; close skills gaps and update labour laws; and raise the quality of DOT and local government staff serving visitors. These became ten strategic actions covering K-12 and higher tourism education, industry–academe links, graduate quality, the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement, employment legislation, and public-sector human capital, with oversight through the National Tourism Coordinating Council and a new Industry Manpower Development Committee.

Outcome

Delivered a time-phased 2015–2020 action plan naming responsible agencies (DOT, CHED, DOLE, TESDA and others), with costs to be finalised by DOT and shared with some private-sector investment. The DOT staff survey found 99% wanted more training, with communication (84%) and tourism skills (83%) the top needs, which fed the plan’s DOT capacity-building action. Gave the DOT baseline data for forecasting skills by job type and level, as a basis for review each year. Lessons: workforce plans work best when tied to an existing national plan and its coordinating bodies; regional consultation surfaced problems national data alone would have missed; and skills, education and labour law have to be tackled together.