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Abstract
The Sultanate of Oman has prioritised the tourism and hospitality sector as a means for development, economic diversification, and job creation for Omani nationals. However, the desired target for Omani nationals in the sector's labour force remains unmet, while higher education tourism and hospitality programmes recruit below maximum capacity. The empirical findings of a survey of eighty Omani students on a tourism and hospitality programme at the Oman Tourism College in Muscat were used to explore the sector's human resources challenge, and the students' career perceptions and attitudes. The study addressed their motives for studying tourism and hospitality, their expectations and opinions about working in the sector, and how they viewed this as a career choice. The policy implications and a research agenda emerging from the findings are relevant to the context of economic diversification of rentier economies, tourism development and labour nationalisation policies in the oil-dependent Arab Gulf region.
Notes
1 Valeri, Oman: Politics and Society in the Qaboos State (2009), pp. 251–9; Peterson, “The Emergence of Post-traditional Oman”, working paper, University of Durham (2005), pp. 8–10.
2 Ministry of National Economy, Statistical Yearbook 2012 (2012).
3 Oxford Business Group, The Report: Oman 2012 (2012), pp. 263–4.
4 Ministry of Tourism, Eighth Five-Year Tourism Development Plan (2011), unpublished.
5 Fasano and Goyal, “Emerging Strains in GCC Labor Markets”, IMF working paper 04/71 (2004), pp. 28–9; Harry, “Employment Creation and Localization: The Crucial Human Resource Issues for the GCC”, International Journal of Human Resource Management 18 (2007), pp. 132–46; Hertog, “A Comparative Assessment of Labor Market Nationalization Policies in the GCC”, in National Employment, Migration and Education in the GCC, ed. Hertog (2012), pp. 65–106.
6 Fasano and Goyal, “Emerging Strains in GCC Labor Markets”, pp. 28–9.
7 Al Lamki, “Omanisation: A Three Tier Strategic Framework for Human Resource Management and Training in the Sultanate of Oman”, Journal of Comparative International Management 3 (2000), pp. 65–106.
8 Ministry of National Economy, Statistical Yearbook 2010 (2010).
9 Zerovec and Bontenbal, “Labor Nationalization Policies in Oman: Implications for Omani and Migrant Women Workers”, Asian Pacific Migration Journal 20 (2011), pp. 365–87.
10 Reuters, “Oman Reviews Policy on Expat Worker Hiring”, Arabianbusiness.com, 15 Jan. 2013.
11 Randeree, “Strategy, Policy and Practice in the Nationalisation of Human Capital: Project Emiratisation?”, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management 17 (2009), pp. 71–91; Hertog, “Comparative Assessment of Labor Market”, pp. 65–106.
12 Ministry of Manpower, Omanisation Percentage per Sector (2012).
13 Ministry of Tourism, Eighth Five-Year Tourism Development Plan.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Swailes; Al Said; and Al Fahdi, “Localisation Policy in Oman: A Psychological Contracting Interpretation”, International Journal of Public Sector Management 25 (2012), pp. 357–72.
17 Universities and colleges offering tourism education include Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Tourism College, German University of Technology in Oman, Colleges of Applied Sciences, Gulf College, Majan College and National Hospitality Institute.
18 Baum, Managing Human Resources in the European Tourism and Hospitality Industry: A Strategic Approach (1995), pp. 1–200.
19 Chellen and Nunkoo, “Understanding Students’ Commitment to Employment in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry”, paper presented at the International Research Symposium in Service Management in Mauritius (2010).
20 Jenkins, “Making a Career of It? Hospitality Students’ Future Perspectives: An Anglo-Dutch Study”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 13 (2001), pp. 13–20; Wood, Working in Hotels and Catering (1997), pp. 1–252; Walmsley, “Assessing Staff Turnover: A View from the English Riviera”, International Journal of Tourism Research 6 (2004), pp. 275–87; Richardson, “Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Tourism and Hospitality as a Career Choice”, International Journal of Hospitality Management 28 (2009), pp. 382–8.
21 Jiang and Tribe, “Tourism Jobs — Short-Lived Professions: Student Attitudes Towards Tourism Careers in China”, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 8 (2009), pp. 4–19; Roney and Öztin, “Career Perceptions of Undergraduate Tourism Students: A Case Study in Turkey”, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 6 (2007), pp. 4–17; Chellen and Nunkoo, “Understanding Students’ Commitment to Employment in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry”, pp. 6–9.
22 Jenkins, “Making a Career of It?”; Aggett and Busby, “Opting Out of Internship: Perceptions of Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management Undergraduates at a British University”, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education 10 (2011), pp. 106–13; Richardson, “Undergraduate Tourism and Hospitality Students Attitudes Toward a Career in the Industry: A Preliminary Investigation”, Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism 8 (2008), pp. 23–46.
23 Blomme, Van Rheede, and Tromp, “The Hospitality Industry: An Attractive Employer? An Exploration of Students’ and Industry Workers’ Perception of Hospitality as a Career Field”, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education 21 (2009), pp. 6–14.
24 Richardson, “Undergraduate Tourism and Hospitality Students Attitudes”, pp. 23–46.
25 Ibid., pp. 23–46.
26 Kusluvan and Kusluvan, “Perceptions and Attitudes of Undergraduate Tourism Students Towards Working in the Tourism Industry in Turkey”, Tourism Management 21 (2000), pp. 251–69.
27 Al Mazro'ei, The Experiences of Muslim Women Employed in the Tourism Industry: The Case of Oman, MA thesis (2010), pp. 74–84.
28 Henderson, “Managing Tourism and Islam in Peninsular Malaysia”, Tourism Management 24 (2003), pp. 447–56 quoted in Al Mazro'ei, The Experiences of Muslim Women Employed in the Tourism Industry, p. 27.
29 In Oman, enrolment in tertiary education is administered through the Ministry of Higher Education, which allocates students based on their preferences regarding area of study and institution, places available on specific study programmes, availability of scholarships, and in some cases, applicants' grades obtained in secondary education.
30 Forstenlechner and Rutledge, “Unemployment in the Gulf: Time to Update the ‘Social Contract’”, Middle East Policy 17 (2010), pp. 38–51; Hertog, “Comparative Assessment of Labor Market”, pp. 65–106; Al Waqfi and Forstenlechner, “Of Private Sector Fear and Prejudice: The Case of Young Citizens in an Oil-Rich Arabian Gulf Economy”, Personnel Review 41 (2012), pp. 609–29.
31 Al Mazro'ei, The Experiences of Muslim Women Employed in the Tourism Industry, pp. 127–9.
32 Kusluvan and Kusluvan, “Perceptions and Attitudes of Undergraduate Tourism Students”, pp. 251–69.
33 Barron and Maxwell, “Hospitality Management Student's Views of the Hospitality Industry”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 5 (1993), pp. 5–8.
34 Riley, Ladkin, and Szivas, Tourism Employment: Analysis and Planning (2002); Barron et al., “Careers in Hospitality Management: Generation's Y Experiences and Perceptions”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 14 (2007), pp. 119–28.
35 Based on an interview with Dr Obaid Mohamed Al Saidy (Dean of Oman Tourism College), Oman Newspaper [Arabic], 24 Sept. 2011, edition 11071.
36 Forstenlechner and Rutledge, “Unemployment in the Gulf”, pp. 38–51.
37 Salehi-Isfahani, “Population and Human Capital in the Persian Gulf”, in The Political Economy of the Gulf: Working Group Summary Report, ed. Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University, Qatar (2011), pp. 13–14.
38 Petrova and Mason, “The Value of Tourism Degrees: A Luton-Based Case Study”, Education and Training 46 (2004), pp. 153–61.