By: Nyima Sillah
Top hotel officials have cried out against the impact of cruise ships on the hotel industry after dozens of staff fled the country on the cruise ship journey and lucrutive job.
The officials said the surge of cruise ships porching hotel workers started in 2021 -2022in the Gambia and has left the industry sector handicapped in staffing the most experienced staff members which used to be very easy.
General Manager Metzy Residence Hotel, Bubacarr Tumbul Drammeh said since the cruise ship started it has affected all the hotels and the hospitality industry in general. “Most of the industry staff went through the journey and that has affected the staffing of the well experienced people in most hotels. Though, we still have some good chefs.”
“We have lost approximately 10 staff members through the journey and I know still there is quite a number on the queue who have already been accepted waiting for their visas. All staff areas are included. With us, some of our service staff like the waiters left but more on the side of the cooks,” Drammeh explained to The Voice.
Bakary Njie, Operations Manager of African Princess Beach Hotel, said their hotel lost about fifteen staffmembers, adding at some point, they lost all staff in the restaurant sector which was a difficult situation for them because they had to recruit all fresh again.
“We have lost a lot through the cruise ship. If you don’t have the people who are supposed to mold the beginners, it will be hard. And we don’t know who is on the pipeline so every month we recruit because we lose one or two staff which is becoming very hard,” Njie stated.
Njie pointed out that most of them left due to financialupliftment, adding comparing the salaries of cruise ships and what the hotels are offering is a huge gap.
“Getting staff members used to be very easy before but now it is hard to get certain experienced people. Only beginners are available in the market so you need to recruit and put them through. I know there are other people in the pipeline so this will have a continuous impact on the tourism sector.’’
Director of Operations Tamala cum Kalimba Beach Resort, Sana Sanneh said, “We have lost about 10 to 20 staff who went through the cruise ship and this has an impact on the service of the hotel because training people, bringing them to a certain level and losing them is not what we want. We even lost some of our sue-chefs through this journey.”
According to Sanneh, tourism plays a vital role in the economy of the country, and in that case, the sector needs experienced people to do the service but if all those people are going the industry will be handicapped.
Sanneh described the journey as individual benefits, stressing that the country belongs to all and people should stay to develop the country. He, therefore, advised those who want to go to have the country at heart and anytime they gather new experience and expertise, they should come back and invest in their country hence they cannot stop anyone from going.