[photopress:senior_staff_1.jpg,full,alignright]Statistics in China Business News show China has nearly 10,000 star-rated hotels. These all need senior management staff. Of which, not surprisingly, there is a shortage.
Zhao Huanyan, a manager with the Shanghai Jinjiang International Group, said, ‘Luxury hotels have been expanding at a surprising rate in recent years. It is quite often the case that several hotels open in the same business area within a few months.’ Which, he said, has meant an acute shortfall in suitably trained staff, especially middle and senior executives.
Tao Yue, public relations manager of InterContinental Hotels Group’s Greater China division, pointed to the job-hopping which plagues the industry. Tao Yue said, ‘A person with two or three years experience in hotels is hot property. It is not surprising that a luxury hotel in Shanghai will be unable to recruit a chief chef with an annual salary of RMB100,000($12,500).’
Liu Dingjun, associate professor with Nankai University’s Department of Tourism, said, ‘The shortfall of trained manpower in the hotel industry is a result of a relatively backward professional education system in China. University students majoring in tourism management nowadays receive insufficient professional education.
‘Courses offered to tourism majors are made too general and theoretical, without enough education and training on the fundamentals of the industry.’
China at present has over 300,000 hotel management professionals, but less than 10 per cent are actually qualified. The Olympic Games could throw a strain on an industry building hotels very quickly but, perhaps, not training middle management staff at the same speed.
Source: China Daily
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