Education lacking in tourism

By TOM CLARKE

Tourism could help to reduce the high rate of unemployment in Northland, hospitality industry consultant, Bryan Williams, believes.

A lot of unemployed people in the region would be employable in the tourism and hospitality industries, he says, if they had access to education and training.

Mr Williams has become a partner in the Bay of Islands-based hospitality consultancy, JayBee Consultants. He will be working with Skills New Zealand and other agencies such as Work and Income New Zealand, to try to ensure that appropriate training is available.

"There is a lot of potential for these people to find work. However, our industry is a little behind in the education and training stakes because of the complexity and the diversity of the disciplines involved.

"That has made it hard to get common unit standards that can be assessed across the industry.

"As well, in some regions the industry and the polytechnic system haven't worked as closely together as they could, to provide the education facilities needed."

Mr Williams says gaining qualifications is also important for older people already working in the industry.

"Unit standards" is a relatively new method of assessing skills. It can be done in the classroom or on the job, enabling people to gain qualifications without having to stop working.

He is also keen to see changes in the way the public perceives working in the hospitality industry. "The general public doesn't think of the industry as a profession or a career, so we've got to change that perception.

"In Spain and in parts of Europe, if you work as a waiter that's considered as a profession, but in this country it's considered to be a job."

Northland has enormous tourism potential, Mr Williams says, and he expects to see further growth. He has been involved with the regional tourism marketing agency, Tourism Northland, which is undertaking a three-year project to try and get visitors to stay longer and see more of the region.

He has had 21 years in the hospitality industry here and overseas. He trained and worked in Britain before emigrating to New Zealand where he has worked for a number of hotels, including the Sheraton Rotorua and the West Plaza in Wellington.

He has also worked as a tutor in hospitality at the Central Institute of Technology in Trentham, and was recently resort manager at The Beachcomber at Paihia.