Kerala tourism bounce back faces staff crunch challenge

Thiruvananthapuram: After two COVID-19-struck years, the good news for Kerala tourism is a vigorous bounce back in visitors and revenues, but it comes with a hurdle: a staff shortage that is emerging as a new impediment amid the fresh positivity in the sector.

The brightest indicator for Kerala’s tourism sector is the total revenue generated by tourism – direct and indirect – going up from Rs 113 billion in 2020 to Rs 123 billion in 2021. Industry observers expect the figures for 2022 to be significantly better, even though it is not expected to reach the Rs 450 billion level that prevailed before COVID-19.

Where the industry lags is in getting foreign tourists back. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism fell from Rs 103 billion in 2019 to Rs 28 billion in 2020 and further to Rs 5 billion in 2021. And the other key challenge is in getting people to work in the hospitality sector, as Kerala’s youth are migrating abroad in large numbers for education and jobs.

“People have realised that relationship building and deal-making happens much better in personal meetings, which in turn is bringing more customers”, Shruti Shibulal, CEO of the Tamara Leisure Experiences, which has six properties in India and four in Germany, told Gulf News.

Rahul Raj, general manager of the Hyatt Regency in the state capital said the pent-up demand during the pandemic was now revealing itself in growing tourist numbers as things go back to normal.

According to Babu Alex, managing director of Travel Trails India, a Thiruvananthapuram-based tour operator, Kerala tourism will witness a return to its good times by the next season, in October 2023.

“The staff crunch is actually a world-wide phenomenon”, says Hyatt’s Rahul Raj. In Kerala, the problem of staffing is more acute owing to migration of youth abroad. The tourism surge in places like Maldives after the pandemic, and the opportunities in Qatar during the World Cup have taken a large number of Kerala’s hospitality sector staff to those destinations.

“Hospitality sector staff were displaced in large numbers during the pandemic, and to get them back they need to be given confidence about a sustained career in the sector. And the millennial staff need to be taken care in a special way. They do not see their company as a mere work place, they need to feel valued”, says Rahul Raj.

Tamara group’s Shruti Shibulal, who is the daughter of S.D. Shibulal, co-founder of Indian software giant Infosys, says her group did not lay off any staff during the pandemic, and instead invested in staff training to underline the group’s focus on retaining good people. “Good remuneration plus dignity at work plus an opportunity to grow are the ingredients going forward”, she says.

According to Babu Alex, one contradiction in the industry is that of youth spending millions on their hospitality education and then entering a job sector that pays unremunerative amounts. “Better remunerations in the sector are an absolute necessity if good talent is to be attracted”, says Alex.