Achieving this goal requires strategic change management (in terms of skills development opportunities),
industry-wide cooperation and commitment and leadership by relevant tourism stakeholders. This study therefore not only brings together key tourism stakeholders
through social and civil dialogue to set a common strategy
to address a challenge that is also shared by a number of
other EU member states, but also serves as a foundation
to create new job prospects especially amongst younger
members of the workforce and ensure long-term sustainability of the hotel and restaurant industry in Malta
which is a key variable of the wider economy.
The objective of this Research Study was to evaluate the
factors affecting the tourism labour market in Malta for
the purpose of assessing the current situation and making recommendations on the future actions that should
be designed and implemented with the aim of increasing the hotel and restaurant sectors’ attractiveness and
consequently, attracting and retaining a good proportion of the most talented employees available.
2. Methodology
The Study was conducted on the basis of a four-pronged
approach which covered the following broad areas of investigation:
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Market area analysis
Workforce profile
Field research findings
Analysis of best practices
Strategic plan
Such an approach made it possible to identify and incorporate the broad trends affecting international,
regional and local tourism development over the next
fifteen years and applying them to the realities emanating from the profile of the current workforce within the
hotels and restaurants sector.
Specifically commissioned field research was then carried out to collect feedback from four particular target
audiences which were considered relevant to the Study,
namely:
• Employers within the hotels and restaurants sector
• Current employees with more than six-months work experience in the sector
• Students studying tourism within the Institute for Tourism Studies and
the University of Malta’s Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture
• A selection of job-seekers.
INSIDER SPECIAL EDITION
“International tourism receipts increased from €564 billion in
2005 to an estimated