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Bahrain Tribune: Expatriates remain the dominant workforce in 98 hotels in the country, and Government experts believe the trend will continue unless Bahrainis take on career opportunities in the hospitality industry.
The number of Bahrainis working in one- to five-star hotels even dropped by three per cent, according to a head count of the hotel workforce last year.
There were a total of 8,042 workers in 98 hotels last year, according to the Specific Council for Training in Hotels and Restaurants, but roughly 23 per cent of them are Bahrainis. Two years ago, there were 7,807 workers of which 26 per cent were Bahrainis.
“Expats constitute the bulk of workers in hotels,” Ali Sulaybeekh, SCTHR executive director, told the Tribune.
“We are doing our best to win more Bahrainis to the sector, providing anything from free training to monthly allowances. It is left for them to take the jobs available,” he said.
SCTHR dismissed fears expressed by some hoteliers that new changes being imposed on one- to three-star hotels will drastically affect the employment scenario in hotels.
“There are only 74 one- to three-star hotels, and the number of workers in this hotel category account for less than one fifth of the total workforce,” Sulaybeekh said.
SCTHR data revealed that there were only 3,091 workers in one- to three-star hotels, barely 22 per cent of them Bahrainis.
“It is not true that we will lose thousands of jobs because they are closing bars in the one- to three-star hotels. The bulk of the workforce is still in the five-star hotel category,” he said. The five-star hotels accounted last year for 2,958 workers, or 36 per cent of the workforce.
As of last year, the SCTHR category of 98 hotels was listed as including seven five-star hotels, 17 four-star, 24 three-star, 37 two-star and 13 one-star hotels. Male workers outnumber females in hotels. Last year, 6,539 workers were male compared to only 1,503 female.
SCHTR earlier this week made a call through the Tender Board for companies to train some 300 Bahrainis for the hotel industry. The training is worth an estimated BD366,000. The Tourism Affairs Directorate has started a campaign to clean up the entertainment front among one- to three-star hotels. Several bars in these hotels featuring foreign entertainers have been ordered closed. | 
