Hundreds of thousands of tourism workers in Bali, especially in hotels and restaurants, have yet to be certified according to competency standards, thus putting them at a competitive disadvantage in the open market. Perry Markus, secretary of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association’s (PHRI) Bali branch, said Wednesday only 2,000 such tourism workers in Bali were certified.

“We’re looking to conclude the certification process for all tourism workers by the end of 2010,” he said. “Otherwise we will lose the competition against foreign workers.” He added there were about 100,000 tourism workers in the hotel industry alone.

“There are also workers in restaurants and other tourism-related businesses. It is such a daunting task to certify them all,” he said. “We plan to cooperate with various certification institutions to speed up the process so that by next year, all workers will be certified.”

Putu Satyawira Marhaendra, chairman of the Badung Tourism Workers Union, was upbeat the certification process could be successfully completed by 2010. “We have to be optimistic, because like it or not, we’re competing with foreign workers,” he said. “Certification is just like having a driver’s license when you drive a vehicle. So all tourism workers should be certified.”

He added he had told all union members to take the competence assessment for certification according to their employers’ schedule. “Several hotels have set up their own schedules to certify employees,” he said.

News by The Jakarta Post