Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance USAID-DSTA Program

October 16, 2012

Tourism Workforce Development Toolkit and its Application in the

Dominican Republic Adjunct Professor of Tourism

Juan J. Luna-Kelser

Outline

GSTA - Background GSTA – Results Strategic goals of the Education

and Workforce Development Component

Results Lessons Learned & Best Practices

GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM ALLIANCE (GSTA)

5 Year Leadership Associate Award Cooperative Agreement Global mechanism for providing USAID with assistance for

sustainable tourism development;

Advance the state of the practice in sustainable tourism development and allied fields;

Cross-sectoral systems approach including environment, governance, economics, and societal aspects;

SCALE approach for involving stakeholders.

Awarded to AED – Managed by AED, GWU, TNC, and Solimar

DOMINICAN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM ALLIANCE (DSTA)

Five year, $12.5 million program

Goal: Strengthen Dominican Tourism Clusters and small, medium-sized, and community-based tourism enterprises to become sustainable.

Approach: Systems driven approach focused on cluster strengthening, product development, biodiversity conservation, and workforce development.

PresenterPresentation NotesTourism and AG Clusters – ChemonicsTourism Clusters of businesses (mainly hotel associations), NGOs, Universities,

PresenterPresentation NotesProveyendo fondos, asistencia técnica, y acompañamiento a los 9 clusters y el CDCT para la implementación de sus planes de negocios y actividades orientadas a su sostenibilidad financiera y su fortalecimiento institucional; la creación de relaciones inter-institucionales para promover el tema de turismo sostenible y conseguir apoyo de otros sectores

9 clusters y el CDCT legalizados (o con representacion legal), con planes de negocios, y ejecutando sus fondos de donacion en actividades orientadas a su fortalecimiento institucional y sostenibilidad financiera. Ejemplos: Fresh Market de Constanza; Festival de Arte y Medioambiente de Jarabacoa; realización de cenas empresariales para intercambio de experiencias e conocimiento entre actores locales trabajando en el ámbito del turismo; creación de páginas web para la promoción de los destinos

El equipo de donaciones/finanzas ha desarrollado varias capacitaciones sobre el manejo de fondos, los últimos siendo los entrenamientos financieros regionales basados en actividades practicas y temas comunes de reforzamiento

Cluster business plans developed Cluster Membership Toolkit developed Cluster members trained in

implementation of the Membership Toolkit

Cluster Marketing Toolkit and Visitor Information Center Toolkit

Key Accomplishments: Improved cluster services = increased jobs/income

Institutional Strengthening - Clusters (Solimar)

CDCT business plan development & implementation

Recognition of CDCT’s services with national/international partners, potential donors, and clients

Revenue-generating activities

Key Accomplishments: Established CDCT = better funding/ technical support for cluster network

Institutional Strengthening - CDCT

Participatory business & conservation planning process

Operations & management training Naturalist guide training Infrastructure development Sales & marketing Knowledge transfer to clusters/CDCT

Key Accomplishments: Rural tourism enterprises: create jobs establish relationships between

communities and parks where both people and conservation benefit

Rural Enterprise Development

Marketing/sales opportunities and challenges

Consumer-friendly brand Website, print promotion,

trade shows, FAM trips Quality and sustainability

criteria based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria

Key Accomplishments: Niche tour products promoted &

sold Provider negotiating power

strengthened

National Marketing & Sales Network

Complimentary products packaged Sustainable practices adopted by

tourism industry

PresenterPresentation NotesThe Dominican Treasures Brand for Marketing Services and to act as a wholesale tour operator

Conservation and Environmental Stewardship (The Nature Conservancy)

Capacity building

Improving biodiversity conservation and tourism management

Promoting sustainable tourism development

Capacity Building

Environmental education

Environmental best practices training

Marine conservation training

Christmas bird count

Research (whale watching)

Nature interpreter training

Tourism development planning

PresenterPresentation NotesConservation Action PlanningPartnership with Dominican Foundation of Marine Mammals (FUNDEMAR)Visitor impact management and monitoring plans for Los Haitises Nat’l Park and Salto El Limón Environmental Mitigation Plans and Reports

Improving biodiversity conservation and tourism management

CAP

SA

Enabling policy framework for PA:

-tourism mgmt plan

-concessions, co-management

-tourism regulations, licenses, permits (infrastructure, public use, services)

-entrance fees, financial reinvestment, fiscal-economic instruments

Improved (tourism)

mgmt

Effective management

Policy tools

Diagnosis

Promoting sustainable nature tourism development

Restoration of the Samaná Whale Museum

Supporting the conservation of sea turtles through tourism and environmental education

Key Accomplishments

Implementation of 4 conservation plans

Implementation of 4 sustainable tourism financial plans for PA

Implementation of 2 visitor impact management plans

Identification of business opportunities for communities

Proposal: sustainability of

the park system

Proposal: infrastructure and interpretative signage for 2 parks

Providing technical advice and direction to each tourism cluster in developing a competitive tourism workforce

Empowering the Consorcio Dominicano de Competitividad Turística (CDCT) to articulate a nationally competitive and professional tourism education and workforce policy framework

Education and Workforce Development (GWU)

PresenterPresentation NotesDemand Factors: determining work force need by domain within tourism sector, identifying job needs, analyzing skill needs, identifying factors that hinder industry growth and determining industry attitudes toward youth

Supply Factors: assessing coverage and quality of training provider programs, determining linkages between employers and training providers, identifying barriers for youth who want to work in tourism and identifying skill levels of new and incumbent workers

Communications and Social Networking (AED)

Focused communications support to: Dominican Tourism Clusters Dominican Consortium for Tourism Competitiveness Fondo DESTINOS/Innovation grant recipients

Increase public dialogue and recognition

Support planning and staging of events

Interaction with local and national media outlets

Key Messages

Promoting the DR as a sustainable tourism destination

Sensitizing around the themes of sustainable tourism

Strengthening of the tourism clusters

Showcasing the key role of tourism in the DR

Key Accomplishments 9 Clusters and CDCT legally registered and

receiving sustainability funding 11 Community Grants implemented Cluster communications capacity enhanced Press trips: 7 of 9 clusters have had at least

one press trip Photo archive: comprehensive catalog of

program activities completed

DSTA Lessons Learned

System Transformation Requires

Whole system (value chain) involved

Local engagement from the beginning

Sustainable Clusters (through meaningful activities and DMOs)

Positive media relationships

Program staffing responsive to implementation needs

Tourism Education and Workforce Development in the DR

PresenterPresentation NotesThe USAID-Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA) Program was established to promote sustainable tourism in the Dominican Republic in order to increase sector competitiveness. Financed by USAID, the USAID-DSTA Program provides grant funding to nine Tourism Clusters. The George Washington University (GW) is a USAID-DSTA managing partner committed to achieving excellence for tourism workforce development and education. GW concentrated its efforts in the Puerto Plata region by providing technical assistance that empowered the Puerto Plata Cluster’s education and training providers to prepare and engage workforces in their respective tourism industries, with special emphasis on gender considerations and youth, both in-school and out-of-school or disadvantaged youth.  The overarching objective was to understand tourism industry training needs and current delivery by education and training providers, as well as the latter’s strengths and limitations, workforce interests and skills, and to engage local and national stakeholders who are well positioned to act upon findings.

PresenterPresentation NotesDeveloped by the Educational Development Center and George Washington University  with support from the USAID Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance and Equip3

Strengthen the capacity of managers (from government, NGO’s and the private sector) to assess, design, implement and evaluate workforce development programs in the Tourism sector

For use by countries seeking to build a Sustainable Tourism sector i.e., a sector that provides jobs and economic growth while at the same time practicing sustainable approaches to natural resource management

For countries with large youth populations where developing viable employment opportunities for in-school and out-of-school is a national priority.

Overview: Tourism and Its Workforce

Long term outlook for tourism remains promising & resilient. Tourists arrivals in 2010 returns to 2008 pre-crisis level and are expected to grow to 1.6 billion by 2020.

UNWTO has been placing more stress on the potential for tourism to be a primary vehicle for job creation, economic regeneration and a transformation to a green economy

Tourism is an important industry for developing countries

Tourism is a labor-intensive industry supporting a wide variety of jobs in many sectors.

Tourism provides opportunity for youth, women and the less advantaged groups in society

“The story of successful tourism enterprise is one that is largely about people-how they are

recruited, managed, trained and educated, how they are valued and rewarded and how they are

supported through a process of continuous learning and career development. None of this

happens by accident”

1.1 Assessment Framework a) Assessment of industry demand for workforce skills b) Assessment of the capabilities of education and training providers to meet industry demand for work force skills c) Assessment of the attitudes and perceptions of youth towards tourism

1.2 How Program Planner use Tourism Workforce Assessment Information 1.3 Factors of Analysis

Demand Factors: determining work force need by domain within tourism sector, identifying job needs, analyzing skill needs, identifying factors that hinder industry growth and determining industry attitudes toward youth

Supply Factors: assessing coverage and quality of training provider programs, determining linkages between

employers and training providers, identifying barriers for youth who want to work in tourism and identifying skill levels of new and incumbent workers

1.4. How to Conduct a Tourism Work Force Step 1: Preparation Step 2: Data Collection Step 3: Data Analysis and Recommendations Step 4: Sharing Results and Mobilizing Action

Section 1: Assessment

Section 2: Program Design

2.1 How to transition from Assessment to Program Design

Goals of such programs are usually to: a) Increase tourism industry skills and employment

among youth and other members of the workforce b) Increase economic productivity in the tourism sector Tourism Workforce projects can include a range of

objectives and activities, for example: Objective 1: Build the capacity of workforce education and

training providers Activities: Conduct and assessment of local education and

training provider capacity (using survey instruments) use the results from the survey to develop capacity-building plans with local training providers

Objective 2: Conduct outreach efforts to raise awareness of

tourism career opportunities Activities: Work with local media companies to design a

campaign that helps youth and other understand how they can develop career in the tourism industry

2.2 Illustrative Scope of Work for a Tourism

Workforce project

Example of part of a survey to assess youth’s perceptions towards and interest in the tourism sector.

Strategic goals of the education and tourism workforce component

Reinforcing social capital development in destination

Engaging local and national stakeholders to promote a supportive tourism education and workforce policy and institutional environment

Assessment and Perspectives of Workforce Training in the Tourism Sector -

Tool Kit

Youth Assessment Employer Assessment Labor Markets and Youth Development in the Tourism Sector

Tourism Education and Training Providers Catalog Tourism Vocational Education Assessment White paper on International Best Practices for Tourism Workforce

Development

Results: Most needed skills that young people need to grow and advance in the sector are: communication skills, labor, social skills, and customer service Main obstacles perceived by young people to enter the formal tourism workforce are: low wages, learning new languages, especially English and contacts within the sector INFOTEP proved to be the training provider of top quality tourism in the assessment of youth and the private sector, while service providers rated INFOTEP in second place.

Toolkit Pilot: "Labor Markets and Youth Development in the

Tourism Sector“ Perceptions:

75% of young people

aspire to be receptionists and 48% aspire to be guides

22% of employers believe

that the occupation of receptionist is suitable for

young people, while 3% think that being a guide is the most

suitable

PresenterPresentation NotesYouth have ambitious aspirations in the tourism industry; however these aspirations sometimes conflict with employers perceptions: Careers in tourism are predominantly sought by youth in low-income communities. Out-of–school youth in these low-income communities have ambitious goals of becoming receptionists, tour guides, and gift shop clerks. While youth is particularly interested in becoming receptionists and tour guides, tourism businesses seldom believe that these positions are a good fit for youth.

Universities offer this type of training, but existing training programs are in short supply and are generally inaccessible to poor and low-skilled youth, especially out-of-school youth. There is a dire need to increase secondary education enrollment rates and expand training opportunities through INFOTEP’s training organizations with special emphasis on teaching “soft skills”.

INFOTEP successfully serves some youth populations, but not out-of-school youth. Participation generally requires a high school diploma.

Employers Assessment Results

Supply-Demand:

Job positions most difficult for employers to recruit because of lack of skills:

Hotel maintenance Front Desk - Receptionist Housekeeping Entertainers

Customer Service Chefs and kitchen staff Retail sales persons Bartender

Security General Services

Occupational positions: 6 of the 7 subsectors assessed pointed out the low level of education of

candidates for the positions sought out by the private sector as the most difficult for recruitment,

as well as: Lack of experience Working hours

Migration to other places in search of better wages

The preference to work in different sectors because of the low wages offered in the

tourism sector

Unequal distribution of managerial positions

held by international and local employees in

the accommodation subsector

PresenterPresentation NotesAn important outcome of the study is the prevalent gap between supply and demand in the labor market.

Obstacles that prevent employees from receiving further training and education are training time requirements, time of day that courses are offered, costs, employer’s lack of interest in training personnel and the difficulty in finding appropriate courses.

The assessment revealed a relatively young profile of the local tourism workforce. While this is an indicator of youth’s active involvement, it also demonstrates that a shift in employment towards other sectors is taking place. This negatively impacts the destination’s competitiveness as professional expertise acquired through years of experience in the industry is less likely to occur.

This study reiterated employer interest in offering institutional training, contributing to curriculums and supporting local high school and university tourism education programs.

The former more commonly hold positions such as Executive Director, General Manager, Food & Beverage Manager and Guest Services. More studies are needed to better understand this phenomenon.

Seven industry sub-sectors (accommodation, food and beverage, tour operators, attractions, transportation, retail services and events),

Employers Assessment Results

Results:

39% of companies are not training staff as they should, and

have not done any training activities

On average, 36% of companies expressed interest in getting

involved in programs aimed at the training of out-of-school youth in

the context of public sector programs

56% expressed a willingness to participate based on having more information about the scope and

conditions of these programs

PresenterPresentation NotesThe study revealed poor access to laboratory space in which to practice theoretical skills. Infrastructure spaces for kitchens, mock hotel rooms, reception areas etc., are inappropriate or unavailable in most institutions. The Province of Puerto Plata has a wide variety of institutions that offer quality and inexpensive language training opportunities. However, these providers are concentrated in the municipality of Puerto Plata, resulting in weak language training beyond this area.

Internship programs available are few and inadequate. The opportunities are short, therefore significantly decreasing students’ opportunities to prove their employability skills in the business environment. Furthermore, students are often treated as employees rather than interns, lessening the amount of teaching and mentorship, which should be provided. Education and training providers do not monitor employer needs. As a result the training of the workforce is not meeting the demands of the industry and the opportunity to create employment linkages is severely limited. Targeted areas where businesses are willing to collaborate:

Internships and mentoringCurriculum developmentProfessional developmentLearning distance based educationPartnering with vocational schoolsContributions to training providers for renovating equipment and facilitiesRecruitment programs targeting graduates of vocational schoolsJob placement & career eventsOffer educational opportunities to employees to finish primary and mid-level high school education

Assessment of Vocational Training for Tourism

The geographical location of the polytechnic institutions that offer tourism vocational education courses and training holds no relationship with the location of the country’s tourist destinations

The current curriculum are training individuals in completing basic tasks (such as housekeeping and assistant cooking) rather than developing technical competencies that could lead towards a trade or profession

Tourism has many areas that require specialization. Continuous education is needed for professors and teachers in order to update their knowledge base

Not all centers have the equipment and labs needed for teaching or have the necessary inputs

Mastering a second language is not achieved in the short period of time allotted to this skill

Lack of instruments to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of training in technical high schools in tourism

PresenterPresentation NotesWith the support of the State Secretariats of Tourism (SECTUR), Labor (SET), Education (SEE), INFOTEP, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), USAID-DSTA/GW produced a working paper aimed at providing a set of recommendations that, based on worldwide best practices, addresses the practical and positive measures that government and the tourism industry should set into practice to develop the knowledge and human resources required to improve sector competitiveness. The paper provided an opportunity to raise awareness amongst key public sector authorities on how to address tourism workforce issues on a national policy stage.

Summary of national policy and governance issues affecting workforce developmentLack of cross-governmental vision, strategic direction, coordination, planning and achievable policy goals for all government institutions with a role in tourism workforce developmentLack of a national system of benchmarks for evaluating training programsNegative perception of employment in the tourism industry due to the low wagesEducation and training program do not address the training needs of single mothers, middle-aged people, and rural populations that do not qualifyReliable labor market data and lack of research and adequate resources Lack of tax incentives for small and medium employers to access training opportunitiesLack of knowledge and awareness of the benefits of tourism workforce development

National Task Force on Education and Tourism Workforce and INFOTEP’s

Advisory Committee of Hospitality and Tourism National Human Resources Tourism Council proposed and discussed Concept Proposal for Tourism Observatory Tool kit to assess and design tourism workforce development programs

delivered and strategic action plan to implement toolkit in other destinations in the DR Clusters

MINTUR and private sector executives from the travel and tourism industry trained

Application and dissemination of GW Consulting Practicum Methodology to local universities (Clusters and local universities - CONPEHT)

Train the trainers pilot program with INFOTEP Web-based job clearinghouse Modernization of the computer lab of the Cabarete Education and Training

Center – Donation of Starfish Orphanage Foundation

Key accomplishments

Best Practices in Workforce Development Tourism Applied to the Dominican Republic

Development Vision

• Learning by Doing •Quality programs are required to train employees for tourism •Tourism has positive economic effects for all sectors

Competent Workforce

•Working with clusters for the development of the tourism workforce •Centre of Excellence for training •Model of skills-based training •Tax incentives • Interns and apprentices •Adaptation and implementation of international competitions

Policy •Policy formulation and establishment of an institutional framework for the development of

the workforce in the country's tourism sector: opportunity and challenge

PresenterPresentation NotesWith the support of the State Secretariats of Tourism (SECTUR), Labor (SET), Education (SEE), INFOTEP, and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), USAID-DSTA/GW produced a working paper aimed at providing a set of recommendations that, based on worldwide best practices, addresses the practical and positive measures that government and the tourism industry should set into practice to develop the knowledge and human resources required to improve sector competitiveness. The paper provided an opportunity to raise awareness amongst key public sector authorities on how to address tourism workforce issues on a national policy stage.

Summary of national policy and governance issues affecting workforce developmentLack of cross-governmental vision, strategic direction, coordination, planning and achievable policy goals for all government institutions with a role in tourism workforce developmentLack of a national system of benchmarks for evaluating training programsNegative perception of employment in the tourism industry due to the low wagesEducation and training program do not address the training needs of single mothers, middle-aged people, and rural populations that do not qualifyReliable labor market data and lack of research and adequate resources Lack of tax incentives for small and medium employers to access training opportunitiesLack of knowledge and awareness of the benefits of tourism workforce development

Lessons Learned & Best Practices

Access to primary data produced by the Toolkit Pilot Assessment and the knowledge generated encouraged stakeholder engagement

of local educational institutions, private and public sector organizations to move forward to engage the potential workforce in

their respective destination tourism industry

Allowed for the leveraging of additional donor resources, which has contributed towards the goal of building institutional and human

resource capacity to engage education and training providers

Direct involvement and participation has encouraged the Government to pay closer attention to invest in Human Resource

Development

Lessons Learned & Best Practices Establishment of a Tourism Human Resources Council at the national

level to function as a national policy accreditation and coordination entity that approves occupational standards and training providers and

organizations according to workforce skills qualifications based on international best practices

Establishment of a web-based Job Clearinghouse where job seekers can

find training referrals, seek career advice, search job listings, and find other employment-related information, including worker benefits and

rights, and labor laws

A center of excellence can serve as a Mecca for any industry by attracting expert practitioners, theoreticians, and innovative thinkers for a

common purpose: perfecting and communicating knowledge

Internships and apprenticeships continue to provide an excellent learning environment for many skills and trades in tourism

Summary

Understanding what skills exist in the destination, the size and general trends of the labor force, and the forecasted needs for

tourism development, an assessment can be made to determine the level of effort and investment necessary

Workforce development leads to stronger economic growth,

increased productivity, and expanded employment opportunities by preparing new entrants to the workforce, bringing new skills to

the existing workforce, and supporting entrepreneurship

The competitiveness of the tourism industry of any country rests ultimately on the capacity of its people to support it through their

skills and enterprise

Thank you

DSTA WFD Reports Can Be Found at:

http://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/index.html

USAID Workforce Development Toolkit http://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/images/12Tou

rism.Workforce.Guide..pdf

http://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/index.htmlhttp://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/images/12Tourism.Workforce.Guide..pdfhttp://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/images/12Tourism.Workforce.Guide..pdfhttp://www.gwutourism.org/gsta/DRreports/images/12Tourism.Workforce.Guide..pdf

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