A national tourism workforce strategy for the Philippines

Tourism Human Resource Development Strategy and Action Plan 2015–2020, ADB–Canada TA 8334 “Improving Competitiveness in Tourism”

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 strategy and five-year action plan, aligned with the National Tourism Development Plan so that it added to the plan and did not duplicate 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 strategy

Three aims run through the plan:

• Strengthen education and training institutions so they supply competent, motivated graduates for national and local tourism.
• Close skills gaps, prepare people for work, and push for updated labour laws and employment practices.
• Raise the quality of DOT and local government staff serving visitors at entry points and in destinations.

These became ten strategic actions:

• 1 Strengthen K-12 tourism education
• 2 Upgrade curricula and teaching in higher education
• 3 Strengthen industry and academe links
• 4 Enhance graduate quality
• 5 Implement the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals
• 6 Facilitate tourism education and training
• 7 Prepare people for employment
• 8 Update employment legislation and labour relations
• 9 Build public-sector human capital
• 10 Develop DOT’s internal human resources

For delivery, the plan proposed oversight through the existing National Tourism Coordinating Council, regional coordination units within DOT, and a new Industry Manpower Development Committee to monitor progress, with an annual review with all partners.

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, not set up as a separate structure.
• Regional consultation surfaced problems (teacher quality, practicum management, service-charge practice, contract terms) that national data alone would have missed.
• Skills, education and labour law have to be tackled together, otherwise better training still loses people to poor conditions or jobs overseas.
• The DOT survey response rate was around 23–24%, so its findings are indicative.