More women steadily reaching greater heights in hospitality and tourism
Over the past five years, more than 77pc of the yearly intake of undergraduate programmes in hotel and tourism management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University were women
Getting into Hong Kong’s hospitality industry doesn’t seem to have any gender-based obstacles nowadays. But move up the career ladder, and it becomes a lot more male dominated.
The industry’s vacancy rate still tops other sectors at 4.5 per cent (at the end of December) against 2.3 per cent for all industries, but it’s of paramount importance that management and human resources departments work harder to ensure more females are giving equal opportunities to advance as males, and on developing and retaining employees.
Over the past five years, more than 77 per cent of the yearly intake of undergraduate programmes in hotel and tourism management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University were women.
The figure has remained above 70 per cent for the past decade, indicating a lot more women than men are interested in careers in the industry.
However, the proportion of women in managerial positions, and above, is out of kilter with those numbers.
According to government statistics, at the end of last year 282,900 people were employed in Hong Kong’s hospitality industry, specifically in accommodation and food services, of whom 54 per cent were women.