Tourism Concern Report – Impacts of all-inclusive hotels on working conditions and labour rights

The long awaited Tourism Concern research report on ’The impacts of all-inclusive hotels on working conditions and labour rights’ in Barbados, Kenya and Tenerife is out and it makes for interesting reading.

Published a few weeks ago there are a few hard facts that are worth highlighting and blogging on, hence writing today. The research carried out in 2013 is supported by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) and the research mainly concerns pay, working conditions and labour rights.

The evidence gathered aims to:

• Inform public debate on improving and protecting the rights of employees
• Help in promoting socially equitable, inclusive and sustainable tourism
• Influence government and industry policy formation

The significant findings are:

• Staff in all types of hotels are faced with low wages, unfavourable working conditions which contributes to stress, increases exposure to risk and working hours which disrupts home life
• Workers in all inclusive (AI) hotels experience less favourable conditions as respondents discussed short term contracts, offering fewer benefits and less job security. AI workers have pro-longed guest contact which can be stressful. They receive significantly less tips, leading to less overall wages and concerns about unpaid overtime is greater
• Evidence suggesting positive progress in this area since Tourism Concern’s 2004 published research report on ‘Labour standards, social responsibility and tourism’, especially in Barbados

Conclusions bound towards concerted efforts by all key players in the sector to facilitate or legislate workers’ access to rights and promote collective bargaining to lift incomes.

This concept is not new, in fact Jo Hansen, Project Officer at RHP spoke about just this at Speakers Corner at the World Travel Market in 2012 relating her responsible tourism experiences in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It is a long campaigned answer to a series of responsible tourism questions in a multitude of destinations. It is that of collaboration between all stakeholders that can influence positive change.

To read more and order a copy of the report Click here Or contact Tourism Concern

RHP offer advice about how to tackle all CSR issues and how to shout about them when you are doing the right thing! Get in touch.