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Research Article
Review Article Open Access

Employment Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality

Sectors
Sintayehu Aynalem*, Kassegn Birhanu and Sewent Tesefay
Tourism Management, School of Business and Economics, Madda Walabu University, Ethiopia

Abstract
Tourism is one of the main economic engines for nations with total contribution of 9.5% to global GDP and
8.9% of total employment in 2013. Tourism can only flourish if the industry can employ qualified staff or sustainable
workforce which is the heart for excellent and prompt service delivery system. Thus, this review made to give
summarized information about challenges and opportunities of tourism and hospitality employment. Narrative review
was used where selected and related articles, reports and studies of the topic are compared and summarized.
Tourism and hospitality creates diversified employment opportunities in different sectors like accommodation, food
and beverage establishments, transportation services, travel agencies, tour operation companies, natural and
cultural attractions sites. The challenges are poor pay and working conditions, sexual harassment, discrimination,
unequal treatment, low education and training, undemocratic and rigid corporate culture, seasonality and political
instability which drastically reduce the number of visitors which in turn brings high employees’ turn over. Concerned
stakeholders including, academicians, policy makers and business owners of tourism and hospitality shall take
actions to bring sustainable work force for the development tourism and hospitality sectors.

Keywords: Employment; Challenges; Opportunities; Tourism and as large as 25 million jobs Chandrakanta Sahoo’s cited in Dayananda,
Hospitality [2]. In Ethiopia, the total contribution of Travel and Tourism to GDP
was ETB 91, 898.4 million (9.3% of GDP) and there was 2,291,500 jobs
Abbreviations: ETB: Ethiopian Birr; EU: European Union; GDP: in 2014 (8.5% of total employment) [5].
Gross Domestic Product; HCT: Hotel Catering and Tourism; ILO:
International Labor Organization (of the UN); ISO: International Tourism and hospitality industries create many employment
Organization for Standardization; IUCN: International Union for opportunities in different areas like accommodations, transportation,
Conservation of Nature (The world conservation Union); MoCT: attractions sites. Therefore, the availability of skilled and trained
Ministry of Culture and Tourism; NGOs: Non-Governmental manpower is a crucial element in the success of any tourism development
Organizations; OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation plan or programme, hence employees is a sine qua non of tourism
and Development; UK: United Kingdom; UNDP: United Nations industry. However, the constraints of employment in tourism industry
Developmental Program; WNWTO: United Nations World Tourism are unstable employment, low job status, long antisocial working hours
Organization; WTTC: World Travel and Tourism Council and low pay. The immediate and most obvious consequences of such
a situation is the difficulty of recruiting suitable staff and high staff
Introduction turnover, these are costly to the success of the industry.
Tourism is one of the world’s largest and rapidly growing Indeed, less due attentions have been giving to employees working
industries. In the 21st century, global economy is driven by three in tourism and hospitality sectors. However, staffs are the heart
major industries includes technology, telecommunication and tourism for excellent and prompt service delivery system. Thus, such staffs
[1]. Tourism is the collection of activities, services and industries are arguably the most indispensable assets of the organization. The
that deliver a travel experience including attractions, transportations, relationship between human resources and tourism can be expressed
accommodations, eating and drinking establishments of retail shops, in two main aspects. First, tourism can only flourish if the industry
entertainment, business and other hospitality services provided for can employ an adequate supply of good quality staff or sustainable
individuals or groups of travelling away from home [2]. workforce. The other issue is that the way in which staffs are treated
by both managers and customers and vice versa should be in line
In 2013, Travel and Tourism’s total contribution to the global
with social equality and justice. Equally important, the quality of
economy rose to 9.5% of global GDP. In total, nearly 266 million jobs
(8.9% of total employment) were supported by Travel and Tourism in tourists’ experiences and images in a destination is highly depending
2013 (1 in 11 of all jobs in the world) [3]. According to ILO Global
Dialogue Forum on New Developments and Challenge [2] report, even
though international tourism is affected by the global economic and *Corresponding author: Sintayehu Aynalem, Tourism Management, School
of Business and Economics, Madda Walabu University, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 (0)
social crisis, it is anticipated that the tourism sections global economy 920273425; E-mail: sinaynalem2007@gmail.com
to provide 296 million jobs by 2019 so that tourism has the potential to
Received  April 20, 2016; Accepted November 15, 2016; Published November
become a major generator of job. 22, 2016
Tourism is extremely labour intensive and a significant source of Citation: Aynalem S, Birhanu K, Tesefay S (2016) Employment Opportunities
employment. It is among the world‘s top creators of jobs requiring and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality Sectors. J Tourism Hospit 5: 257. doi:
10.4172/2167-0269.1000257
varying degrees of skills and allows for quick entry into the workforce
for youth, women and migrant workers [4]. In some countries, the Copyright: © 2016 Aynalem S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
contribution of tourism for employment is indispensible; for instance, unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
India is the second largest employment generator in the field of tourism original author and source are credited.

J Tourism Hospit, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 6 • 1000257

ISSN: 2167-0269
Citation: Aynalem S, Birhanu K, Tesefay S (2016) Employment Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality Sectors. J Tourism Hospit
5: 257. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000257

Page 2 of 5

on employees’ professionalism. Therefore, this review paper is of payment [5,9]. In a labour intensive industry such as tourism and
aimed to give summarized information on the issues of employment hospitality the greater proportion of income is likely to be derived
opportunities and challenges of tourism and hospitality and indicated from wages and salaries paid to those working in jobs either directly
the implication of the findings to concerned stake holders including, serving the needs of tourists or benefitting indirectly from tourists’
academicians, policy makers and business owners of tourism and spending [3]. Income will be high in tourist destinations which attract
hospitality so as to take actions to bring sustainable work force in the large numbers of visitors; where visitors length of stay is maximum,
industry. customer spending of money is very high provided that multiple
opportunities and activities are existing for customers to participate [7]
Methods (Figure 1).
In this review, the findings of different studies related to The other reasons that employment opportunities are diversified
employment opportunities and challenges of tourism and hospitality ever before, are tourism and international travel become popular all
sectors were seriously reviewed that address the question: what are over the world and people themselves considered that travel is human
the challenges of employment in tourism and hospitality? And what rights; destinations are worried much to meet the needs and wants of
are the employment opportunities of tourism and hospitality sectors? tourists to offer high standard of services in the destinations; tourists
Academic articles, grey literature, and media sources were gathered in have wide choice of holidays; international standards and quality
a comprehensive fashion in order to answer this question. assurance system are being set by national and international tourism and
Philip Mayer [6] guideline for a review article was adopted mainly hospitality organizations to provide standardized and quality customer
narrative review of methodological approach. Status quo review will services thereby this is resulted for ensuring sustainable development
be employed, which adopted from cited in Mayer, [6] to present most in the sectors; the continuous decline of international oil price is also
current researches, reports and articles conducting during the last reduced the cost of travel. All the aforementioned cases are the main
10years having issues related with challenges and opportunities of reasons for the growing number of tourist flow in the destinations.
employment diversification of tourism and hospitality sectors. Since, Therefore, high number of workforces are required to provide services
the review paper presents a summarized comprehensive topic, readers for the tourists. Due to this facts, tourism and hospitality sectors with
who haven’t read original articles, reports and studies, they will get supporting industries provide a diversified employment opportunities.
brief key points of issues. Challenges of employments in tourism and hospitality
Moreover, questions relating to employments in tourism and Most research findings identified the major challenges of
hospitality sectors and challenges and opportunities were identified. employment in tourism and hospitality, which are discussed in the
Then relevant academic articles and journals were identified. In the following paragraphs.
review, more than 50 articles and journals were identified and 16 of
them were critically reviewed to address the formulated questions then Unequal treatment: There is no equal treatment for all type of
reviewed. Finally, by charting the data and assembling, summarizing employees. For example, according to ILO-UNDP, cited Thomas [10]
and reporting the results on the basis of the author’s experience, existing gender inequality is manifested in the sectors. Women perform 66
theories and models. It also incorporates some statistical data, reports percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food, but earn
and proceedings published by World Tourism Organization, World 10 per cent of the income and own 1 per cent of the property. Such
Travel and Tourism Council and Culture and Tourism Minister. circumstances are avail due to the fact that women have lower access to
land, capital and education than men women tend to work at home or
Summarized Results family enterprises unprotected by law, and women face discrimination
and overload of work at business enterprises and family life.
Employment opportunities of tourism and hospitality sectors
As per UNWTO report on the assessment of the opportunities and
Based on the involvement or contribution tourism supply side,
challenges which face women with respect to employment in tourism
employment opportunities in tourism and hospitality sectors can
conducted in 2011 noted that unskilled or semi-skilled women tend
be created either directly or indirectly [2,7]. Direct Employment
to work in the most vulnerable jobs, where they are more likely to
opportunities are the total number of job opportunities supported
experience poor working conditions, inequality of opportunity and
by directly in travel and tourism. For example employment by
treatment, violence, exploitation, stress and sexual harassment. In
hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourism information offices,
developing countries, additional factors such as low level of education
museums, protected areas such as national parks, palaces, religious
and training, widespread poverty, poor maternal health and lack of sex
sites, monuments, aircrafts, cruise lines, resorts or shopping outlets,
education together with socio- cultural factors have prevented women
souvenirs, photography, sightseeing tours, farmhouses, bed and
breakfast, rural inns, and guest houseslocal transportation (state owned from being empowered as economic actors. Businesses can be located
airlines and railways, private transport facilities), Guides, cooks and at some distance from residential areas, particularly in poorer countries
scouts. and communities, imposing both travel and time costs on women who
frequently have limited access to both financial and time-flexibility
Tourism and hospitality also supports indirect employment in resources [11].
activities like restaurant suppliers, construction companies that build
and maintain tourist facilities, as well as necessary infrastructure, The other issue is that lower levels and occupations with few career
aircraft manufacturers, various handicrafts producers, marketing development opportunities being dominated by women while key
agencies, accounting services, which are more or less dependent on the managerial positions are dominated by men (Vargas, N.d). Women are
companies providing direct employment for their revenues [8]. under-represented in managerial and senior positions. For example,
women represent only 32 per cent of managers in companies within
The economic impact of tourism is measured in terms of its effect the EU, 10 percent of members of management boards of the largest
on: income, employment, investment and development; and balance companies, and 29 per cent of scientists and engineers across Europe.

J Tourism Hospit, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 6 • 1000257

ISSN: 2167-0269
Citation: Aynalem S, Birhanu K, Tesefay S (2016) Employment Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality Sectors. J Tourism Hospit
5: 257. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000257

Page 3 of 5

Direct Travel &

Tourism Contribution
Commodities
 Accommodation
 Transportation
 Entertainment
 Attractions
Industries Indirect Travel &
 Hotels & Catering Tourism Contribution Induced
 Retail contribution
 T&T investment
 Transportation services (spending of
spending
 Business services direct and
 Government
Sources of spending collective T&T indirect
 Residents’ domestic spending employees)
T&T spending  Impact of  Food and
 Business’ domestic purchases from beverages
travel spending suppliers  Recreation Total Travel &
 Visitor exports  Clothing Tourism
 Individual government  Housing contribution
T&T spending  Household
 To GDP
goods
 To employment

(Source: Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, 2011)

Figure 1: Direct, Indirect and Induced Contribution of Tourism and hospitality sectors.

Family and care responsibilities are still not equally shared. The task [13]. The reason being that tourism employment is often challenged
of looking after dependent family members is largely borne by women. by one or more of the following factors: seasonality (during some
Far more women than men choose to take parental leave. This fact, months of the year the number of tourists is very low so that tourism
together with the lack of facilities for child care and elder care, means and hospitality business sectors cut staffs. A very good example is
that women are often forced to exit the labour market: the employment tourists come to Ethiopia from September up to February, and the rest
rate for women with dependent children is only 62.4 per cent compared months their number significantly reduced) part-time and/or excessive
with 91.4 per cent for men with dependent children [12]. Vergas had hours of work; Low-paid (or unpaid) family labour; and informal or
also noted that in contrast to other industries, employment in Hotel sometimes illegal labour where measurement is notably more difficult.
Catering and Tourism tends to be oriented towards people under 35
years of age. In Spain 43.4 per cent of workers in the sector are aged Furthermore, employment opportunities in tourism and
25-34. Swarbrooke had emphasized that Employers frequently reject hospitality are affected by different difficult situations that the industry
women applicants who are over a certain age (usually 35 age limit) and faced. For instance, terrorist attacks are happening in different
demand photos of female applicants for jobs. The tourism industry also tourist destinations for example ISIS, Bokhara, Alishavave, etc.
has a poor record on the employment and promotion of people with prevalence of new contagious disease such as the so called Ebolaand
disabilities. Ziqa virus; world economy crises and technological advancement in
tourism and hospitality sectors such as the application of e-business,
Poor pay and working condition: A European Foundation for the
e-marketing and virtual tourism. Due to this reasons, many tourism
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) report
and hospitality sectors are being loss their business. This is the main
states that the average payment rate in the hotels and restaurants is
reason that employers are firing out the workforces, which give rise to
low when compared to average wages in almost all EU member
unemployment rate.
states[13,14]. Generally speaking, the tourism and hospitality sector is
recognized by Low hourly rates of pay, over time work without extra Best practices
money, long working hours of 50 hours per week, little or no adequate
breaks during peak season periods. The Euro Zone and some western countries can be taken as best
practices in Hotel, catering and Tourism since these sectors are very
The other challenges are inappropriate management style/corporate large and growing rapidly with an average female participation of
philosophy and leadership style such as unplanned recruitment, little 50-70% (more than 60% in UK, Portugal and Austria, as well as 70%
due attention for staff turnover, imported workforce, considering staffs in Finland). More importantly, Euro zone as well as Croatia, Serbia,
as cost rather than asset, rigid leadership which is against the concept Norway and Switzerland can be taken as an exemplary for higher
of democracy, inadequate trainings, and many tasks, such as making women’s share with attractive pay and working condition in both the
computer bookings and working theme park rides are monotonous food, catering and accommodation industries than in the economy as

J Tourism Hospit, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 6 • 1000257

ISSN: 2167-0269
Citation: Aynalem S, Birhanu K, Tesefay S (2016) Employment Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality Sectors. J Tourism Hospit
5: 257. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000257

Page 4 of 5

a whole. In other countries such as Bahamas, Canada, Australia; the destinations and natural resources at these destinations [15]. Various
share of women in accommodation sector is more than 55%. Canada, standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Dominican Republic, India and Jamaica best practice for tourism have been used in the tourism sector to improve the overall quality of
human resources management. However, in Egypt women represent service. These include ISO 9000 for quality management and ISO 14000
only 25% of the total tourism work force [14]. for environmental management [16-22].
Implication of findings and the way forwarded To overcome the effect of seasonality, according to Griffin and
DeLacey [13], it needs clear policies to such as: targeting markets most
To bring excellent customer satisfaction, according to OECD, likely to travel in the offseason; discounted seasonal offers; organizing
2000, labour should not be treated simply as costs, but as human events at less busy times of the year; encouraging attractions to stay
capital or assets. A high-quality skilled workforce will ensure greater open longer; and where year-round full-time employment cannot
competitiveness and innovation, improve job prospects and ease the be achieved, alternative solutions may prove possible. For instance,
process of adjustment in changing markets. Given that, employment working hours could be adapted to suit seasonal patterns while
and human resource issues should be key topics for research and maintaining benefits or seasonal workers could be ensured jobs with
analytical studies in the tourism industries. the same employers each season.
As per the report of UNWTO of 2010, tourism is an engine National and local governments should strive to provide the
to mitigate extreme poverty which can also help poor women to best possible wages and benefits that can be extended to include
break the poverty cycle through formal and informal employment, contributions to health care, disability, maternity, education and
entrepreneurship, training, and community betterment. Not all women retirement, where these are not legally mandated. Amenities such as
are benefitting equally from tourism development, however. In some housing, food and medical care should be provided where needed and
cases, lack of education and resources may prevent the poorest women should be of a good standard. Service charge distribution should be a
from benefitting from tourism development. While in some regions well-documented and transparent process [14].
tourism helps empower women, in other regions, tourism negatively
affects the lives of women and perpetuates existing economic and Conclusion
gender inequalities.
Today, Tourism and Hospitality sectors are the foremost sectors
Thomas [10] emphasized that the collaboration of all stakeholders of the world economy. It improves balance of payments as well as
including governments and intergovernmental bodies, local income creation and employment opportunities. Recent data showed
government sector, trade unions, local communities and their different that tourism and travel creating over 276 million jobs and generating
member groups, NGOs, community based tourism initiatives through 9.8% global GDP in 2014. Besides, tourism can be also nurturing socio-
social dialogue and discussions can encourage equality of opportunity cultural amplification of the people, empowering women and disabled
and treatment; reduction of wage and salary gaps between men and communities by creating favorable job options. Due to this, both
women for jobs of equal value; increased women’s participation in developed and developing countries give due attention for creating
decision making for higher female representation in managerial quality staff for quality tourism and hospitality industries to step on the
positions, and accommodating the cultural customs, traditions and sectors contribution for the country’s development.
practices of employees. Through regular meetings and discussions
among various stakeholders with ILO, we have to strive for enhancing Based on the review, tourism and hospitality industries have
good pay and working conditions which is free from sexual harassment, creating many job opportunities for millions of people in the world
discrimination and exploitation as well as creation of jobs that are in different areas like accommodation, food and beverage (restaurants,
stable, permanent and full-time that provide fair salaries and benefits as dining rooms, cafes, fast food outlets, pubs, nightclubs, bed and
well as ensuring and enforcing relevant labour regulations which reflect breakfasts, motels, hotels, resorts, lounges, catering operations; airlines,
basic human rights, the prohibition of forced labour and exploitation airports, aircrafts, ships, boats, cruises, land transportations like trail,
of child labour, eliminating any discrimination based on race, colour, bus, travel agencies, tour operation companies), natural and cultural
sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. attractions such as national parks, caves, monuments, museums and
galleries, theatres, concerts, festivals, carnivals, conferences, trade
Most importantly, in order to have effective work forces in shows, and exhibitions). Political stabilities, reduced working hours,
tourism and hospitality industries much should be devoted to build technological advancement, increased income and conducive climate
democratic, participative management cultures; emphasis for human are the major favorable conditions for the development of the stated
resource management to bring quality, recognizing employees as tourism and hospitality establishments to create millions of jobs.
assets, rewarding staffs with best performance, strengthen linkage with
educational institutions to provide courses which are more closely Unfair treatment among men and women employees; untrained
geared to the needs of the tourism industry, in terms of both course workforce, poor working condition, seasonality of the sectors, sexual
content and the mode of delivery, such as the use of open and distance harassment and stress; high working hours without overtime payment,
learning. This is the only way by which the majority of the staff in the the sector is low paid salary payer and other socio-cultural related
industry can gain access to educational opportunities [14]. factors are some to be noted as challenges for employment condition in
tourism and hospitality business.
United Nations Environment Programme and ILO gives due
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J Tourism Hospit, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 6 • 1000257

ISSN: 2167-0269
Citation: Aynalem S, Birhanu K, Tesefay S (2016) Employment Opportunities and Challenges in Tourism and Hospitality Sectors. J Tourism Hospit
5: 257. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000257

Page 5 of 5

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J Tourism Hospit, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 6 • 1000257

ISSN: 2167-0269