PACER Plus Implementation Unit partners with Pacific Tourism Organisation to strengthen capacity building
5 May 2022
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Port Vila, 05 May 2022: The Vanuatu Government announced on Friday, 08th April the reopening of borders on 01 July to international travellers and tourists. One of the growing challenges identified by both the industry and the Government towards the successful border reopening, is the shortage of labour or skilled workforce in the tourism and hospitality sector.
To address the shortage, a labour coalition has been formed between the Ministry of Tourism Trade Commerce and Ni Vanuatu Business and the Ministry of Internal Affairs through the collaboration of the Department of Tourism (DoT), Department of Labour and the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO) to work together and facilitate the opportunity for registration and training of ni-Vanuatu into the tourism and hospitality sector for preparation towards border re-opening.
Ms. Geraldine Tari, Acting Director of the Department of Tourism stated that it is the role of the Office to facilitate the immediate need for restoring back excellence of service into the industry as part of being Tourism Ready addressing the need for recruitment registration and training to prepare workers for the tourism and hospitality industry. “Over 50 businesses in Port Vila have been certified as clean caring and checked under the Safe Business Operations Training and it is important that they are being supported with skilful workers to prepare their businesses for border re-opening”.
According to the Commissioner of Labour, Mrs. Murielle Metsan Meltenoven, the re-opening of our borders is everyone’s business.
“For the Government of Vanuatu and for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it’s a priority to establish the conditions for a strong domestic labour market that provides good job opportunities for all Ni-Vanuatu citizens during this reopening period,” says the Commissioner of Labour.
The CEO of VTO, Mrs Adela Issachar Aru, stated that “Our collaboration with the Department of Labour and the Department of Tourism is critical to show commitment for rebuilding the domestic labour market, focusing on the tourism sector as we celebrate International Day in 2022. We know that our people are very talented and skilful people and in no time we will be able to re-train them and prepare them for welcoming all our international travellers and guests for Answering the Call of Vanuatu,” says CEO VTO.
“It is our people, custom, and culture that forms the experience of a lifetime, and we cannot wait to deliver this once more to our international guests.”
“In our preparation and effort to reconnect to the world and to support the Business Houses in Vanuatu, Employment Vanuatu is one of the best solutions to assist the industry with options to recruit the skilled person(s) to work with your company and rebuild our economy.”
Employment Vanuatu is the employment registration portal launched by the Department of Labour in 2021 to assist the business sector in its recruitment pool when looking for suitable candidates to work and grow their businesses. It is anticipated that planning for building Vanuatu’s domestic labour market will be supported through this tool of the Employment Services portal.
To facilitate the smooth processing of tourism and hospitality workers who are both new and experienced, the Department of Tourism, in collaboration with the Vanuatu Tourism Office (VTO) has set up a Tourism Labour Desk to assist interested applicants, as part of its Tourism Ready activities to prepare the industry for the re-opening of borders in July, 2022. The tourism labour desk is supported by the Australian Pacific Technical College (APTC) and the Vanuatu Skills Partnership (VSP) to ensure support is provided as part of the collaboration to develop a skilled labour force for the tourism industry.
The Tourism Labour Desk Officers will be working closely with the Department of Labour to coordinate registration of workers, facilitate training links to training providers and ensure there is a creation of tourism and hospitality ready-pool workforce.
The Tourism Labour Desk will also work with training partners to monitor the quality of on the job trainings by the trainers and employees.
People are encouraged to come forward and use this helpdesk system by sending their CV to tourismlabourdesk@vanuatu.travel or check the employmenvanuatu.gov.vu website for more information
Vanuatu, Yumi Kat Talent!
The International Labour Day 2022 also coincided with the VTO’s launching of a series of ten short promotional videos titled “Vanuatu, Yumi Kat Talent”, as part of a national Worker Attraction Campaign.
The campaign aims to invite workers throughout the country to seek job opportunities within the tourism and hospitality sector, as the country is preparing itself towards the reopening of the borders.
“We have something for everyone, please apply today” was the message reiterated by the Commissioner of Labour.
The ten series will be shared across various social media platform to create the excitement and provide awareness support to the private sector to fill-in their job vacancies with the right skillsets.
