Operating an establishment with a reduced staff is to risk compromising the Mauritian smile. This is the opinion of Désiré Elliah, who has won a second term as president of the Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs of Mauritius (AHRIM). He was speaking at the 49th general assembly of the association on Wednesday, October 26, at the Sugar Beach Hotel in Flic-en-Flac in the presence of the Minister of Tourism, Steven Obeegadoo, and actors of the tourism industry.
Today, he continued, the hotels are all working, without exception, with 10% to 15% less staff. “This has an impact on the excellence that our visitors expect. A luxury hotel service is a ratio of three people per room. We’re far from that today,” he points out.
“We need to act quickly to fill the staffing gap. It may seem ironic, but foreign workers well trained in hotel service can save the Mauritian smile, by supporting our staff in certain positions,” he says. For the president, he hopes the use of foreign labour will be a temporary measure. “In two to three years, the situation should improve, since those who go abroad mostly come back. And we will have had time, by then, to engage strategies that will normalize the situation in the medium and long term,” he maintains.
Désiré Elliah believes that the market is not producing enough talent. In 20 years, while the number of tourists has doubled, there has been a demographic decline. As a result, our national education system has produced fewer people. “The few young people who graduate from hotel schools are quickly absorbed by the foreign market. As for the talent that remains, it risks being the object of unhealthy bidding. Because all of us operators are fishing in the same pool… a pool that is shrinking. In the end, it is the image of the destination that could suffer. We are playing an extremely risky game,” warns Désiré Elliah.
Désiré Elliah listed the means implemented by hoteliers to deal with the labor shortage –
- More flexibility in shifts is given to new recruits so that they have the quality of life they seek.
- Jobs are redesigned, made more versatile, to combine the more demanding tasks with a more enjoyable aspect of the hotel business.
- Benefits are extended with hotel stays, employee and family benefits, training programs, among others.
