PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — As many as 370,000 tourism jobs are available in Singapore and Macau, and many of the hotels and resorts in these tourist destinations are looking for Filipino talents, according to a Singaporean executive.
“We need the skills and talents of the people of the Philippines,” said Edward Liu, managing director of Conference and Exhibition Management Services Pte. Ltd., at the sidelines of the Trabaho sa Turismo Manila 2008 fair at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
“The Filipinos are the best.” Liu said. “Filipinos’ hospitality is known all over the world.”
Liu said Singapore alone would need 70,000 individuals to fill the jobs to be created by 10 to 20 hotels being built on the island state.
Two of these projects, a hotel in Sentosa Park and a facility of the Universal Studio in Singapore, will require 30,000 staff over the next two years.
In Macau, 30 hotels and casinos will be built in two to three years, which will generate 100,000 to 300,000 new jobs.
Among the positions that are needed in the two states are receptionists, chefs, waiters, events organizers and other tourism staff, he added.
Liu’s company has teamed up with the Tourism Department to look for Filipino talents in the next tourism jobs fair.
He said he would bring 100 companies, including hotels, resorts and casinos, from Singapore and Macau to hire Filipino staff next year.
Singapore, which has a population of 4.4 million, attracts more than 10 million foreign tourists a year.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said thousands of tourism jobs were also awaiting Filipinos in their own country. He said companies that participated in the jobs fair at SMX are hiring 15,000 individuals.
“What we are doing is to make sure that everybody is given job opportunities in tourism,” Durano said.
More than a dozen hotels began hiring additional staff yesterday, each one recruiting more than 10 personnel. These hotels include Makati Shangri-La, EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Peninsula Manila, Ascott Hotel, Manila Pavilion, Pan Pacific Manila, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Palm Plaza Hotel, Microtel Inn, Fuego Hotel, Legend Hotels, Traders Hotel, City Garden Hotel, Econotel, and Victoria Court.