Human resources | Region still needs hospitality graduates to fill jobs in Cotai

Job opportunities for local hospitality students will remain unprecedented in the coming years given multiple mega-resorts slated to open in Cotai soon, the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT)’ president Fanny Vong suggested.
Despite the economic downturn in the gaming industry, IFT graduates could be a major source of staff for the gaming operators, which she said needed manpower to fill the non-gaming vacancies.
“Although gaming revenue is slowing down, we’re hopeful that the other areas, for example, the non-gaming side, food and beverages, recreation and leisure, which I know, according to the operators, they’re trying to add to the new mega resorts…  I think they will also need people to fill the positions, we’re talking about thousands of new rooms in the Cotai Strip,” she said. “We’re still quite optimistic that our graduates will be able to obtain some of those positions.”
Aside from the employers’ thirst for human resources, Vong believes senior practitioners might have to return to the school to brush up on their hotel-­related knowledge from time to time, which has reflected on the school’s need to expand itself.
“We also have old positions, when you have people on board for a few months or years, and you’ll have to retrain them and upgrade their skills. This is where professional training comes in. So there has to be continuous efforts to do all of this work.”
Staff reporter