Developing the Skills of Tourism and Hospitality Workers in Al Ahsa in Light of the Saudi Vision 2030

(Wagih Mohamed Salama and Hossam Said Shehata)

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Abstract

The success of any tourism or hotel establishment depends primarily on its human resources. This requires more attention and development of the human element and its skills, as a basis for competition in the tourism and hospitality sector, as being a labour-intensive one. The research aims to identify the necessary skills that must be available in the front-line staff in the tourism and hospitality sector. They have a direct impact on service delivery and customer satisfaction. It also aims to determine the extent of the importance and availability of such skills in staff in the field. Moreover, it tries to determine the training requirements of the tourism labour market. The research employed a descriptive-analytical method. The population included all the facilities of a hotel nature that classified into three, four and five-star categories; in addition to tour operators or companies in Al Ahsa. A questionnaire was developed, and interviews were conducted with representatives of hotel establishments and tourism companies. They were asked to identify their opinions and views toward the skills needed for front-line staff, as well as determining the skills’ importance and availability. Total of (32) managers were agreed to participate in the study, with a response rate of (80%). All forms were valid for statistical analysis: (17) represent managers from hotel establishments and the other (15) represent tourism companies. The results confirmed the importance of such skills to work in the front-line jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector. However, many of these skills are not available right now, or may be available to a limit (78%). Moreover, there is no significant difference between managers’ views in hotel establishments and tourism companies concerning most of skills. Therefore, all hotel and tourism establishments in Al-Ahsa should work to provide diversified and specialized training programs to address the shortcomings of their staff. They have to measure the impact of the training process on improving the performance of workers. Hotel and tourism establishments should also urge their employees, especially front-line staff, and even encourage them to attend training workshops in the field of tourism and hospitality. They can benefit from those programs offered by official institutions and specialised centres affiliated to them, aimed at developing the skills of workers in various fields; as an activation of Saudi Vision programs (2030). KEYWORDS Front-line Staff , Hotel Establishments , Skills Development Programs , Tourism Companies , Training
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