REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Manpower mobility in the region is on the rise as tourism continues to open up new opportunities for skilled workers

TTGasia.com, Jun 1 - 7, 2007

MANPOWER exchanges foster cultural ties and broaden horizons. The only problems perhaps would be language barriers and differences in work ethics, thereby limiting exchanges to certain countries. However, the potential for a brain drain (out of Asia) is very real. The manpower situation in the Philippines is already critical since a lot of our frontliners are being pirated by call centres or opportunities overseas. We invest in training our staff but end up losing them.This scenario indicates that manpower exchanges would most likely occur and be more successful at the frontline level. Ticketing and reservations functions are basically the same in Asia, Europe or the US. And technology has broken down barriers. We are all using the same computer systems and the lingo and expertise required to make hotel and airline bookings can be applied anywhere. As long as you have the basic skills, you can move around. Certain exchanges can occur at the managerial level too since management tenets are global.

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