BTM December 2011 71 “I don’t blame the people who left then, but that doesn’t mean we cannot recruit more Bahrainis now. The industry will see further expansion with the opening of new hotel properties and Bahrainis should be part of this growth,” he maintains. The sector also suffers from poor perception among Bahrainis, as service is increasingly confused with servitude. Mohamed recalls his trips to secondary schools as chairman of the Council for Catering and Hotel Training, where he organised sessions to familiarise students with the industry. “We’d tell them about the hospitality industry, the future there and talk about the job security and climbing the ladder,” he notes. “We’d tell youngsters to use the job as an international passport wherein they could find employment in any country across the world, irrespective of their nationality or origin. Sometimes, we told them to visit the hotel to talk to our Bahraini staff and see for themselves whether they were happy.” The council also aired television commercials supporting the hotel management school in Muharraq and the campaign worked to an extent in getting the message across to parents. If the hospitality industry is to attract Bahraini talent again, it needs to have a tailor-made awareness programme introduced through the ministry of education at the school level. For instance, SKAL International Bahrain has announced two scholarships for Bahraini students at the University of Bahrain to study tourism but did not received even a single applicant. “A strong awareness campaign and education at schools might help in restoring the image of the hospitality industry; this is essential to attract Bahrainis to enrol here,” he believes. xxxxx The most effective step the government can take to kick-start 2012 on a positive note would be an intensive image-building campaign, promoting Bahrain as a financial hub and a secure investment destination
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