Accommodation Sector Faces Workforce Shortage in Barbados

A top industry leader warned on Wednesday that the accommodation sector was on a “struggle bus” in finding people willing to work.

“The biggest challenge that we’re facing is actually trying to find the right talent and the right fit for all the positions that we have available within the industry,” Executive Director of the Intimate Hotels of Barbados (IHB), Cicely Denise Callender, told Barbados TODAY.

“It’s becoming increasingly hard to actually find persons who are willing to actually work.”

At the chain’s 26th annual general meeting at Ocean Spray Apartments, Inch Marlow, Callender pointed out that across all areas of the industry that there were positions that needed to be filled by skilled workers, but there was an apparent lack of interest within society to do so.

“From housekeeping to the restaurants and waitressing, it is just about every facet that we’re seeing a void right now. What I would honestly say is that we are truly on the struggle bus to find talent in Barbados who is willing to stay and be passionate about the job that they do and the contribution that they can make to the sector.”

“I don’t know if it is that the entire community has shifted, but tourism used to be our business, and we used to play our part, and somehow nowadays persons are drifting away from that.”

Suggesting that one issue that may be driving people away from the hotel trade was the view of tourism as “servitude and not service,” she highlighted that there was a large disparity between the two and called for forums to educate the public, including those at primary and secondary school, on the industry’s workings.