OPENING ADDRESS BY MR TEO CHEE HEAN, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AT THE SHA 50th ANNIVERSARY DINNER ON THURSDAY, 9 JUNE 2011, 7.30PM AT THE SHANGRI-LA HOTEL
Madam Kay Kuok, President of the Singapore Hotel Association
Ladies and Gentlemen
A very good evening to all of
you
It is my pleasure to join
you this evening as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the Singapore Hotel Association and the launch of its commemorative
book – “The Heritage of Hospitality – A History of the Singapore
Hotel Industry”.
The Hotel Industry – Staying
Ahead
The outlook for Singapore’s tourism sector is
promising. Last year, we welcomed a record of 11.6 million
visitors. Growth is expected to continue. Visitor arrival numbers
for the first quarter of 2011 have already reached over 3.1
million. The Singapore Tourism Board projects that the total figure
for 2011 will hit 12 to 13 million
visitors.
Tourism Receipts for the first quarter of 2011 are
estimated to reach nearly $5 billion, a 36 per cent growth from a
year ago. All Tourism Receipt components saw positive year-on-year
growth with accommodation posting an 11 per cent growth compared to
2010. Our hotel industry has certainly benefitted from
the healthy growth. Average Room Rates reached $226, an increase of
nearly 14 per cent, while Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)
increased by about 16 per cent to reach S$191 in the same
period.
Today, Singaporeans and visitors can choose from
over 250 hotels with an inventory of more than 47,000 rooms. The
hotel scene is also constantly re-inventing itself to keep up with
the times and the rapidly changing consumer trends. Unique design
elements, creative concepts, and a wide range of amenities and
facilities are employed to achieve differentiation and provide
value for the consumer dollar. The hotel industry has grown in
strength, with the Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) as a key
facilitator representing the industry.
Singapore Hotel Association –
Taking the Lead
The Singapore Hotel
Association has a crucial role in the growth of Singapore’s hotel
industry. Back in 1961, the key players of the hotel industry saw
the need to form an association to help shape the development of
hotels. This vision led to the creation of the framework and
foundation for growth of the hotel and tourism
industry.
Today, SHA continues to lead
its members in the quest to maintain competitiveness and business
viability. One key initiative is to improve productivity levels in
the hotel sector. Last year, SHA led the industry in the Hotel
Transformation 2010 (HT 2010) Productivity Pledge. Working
hand-in-hand with Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’
Union[1],
Singapore Tourism Board and NTUC’s e2i (or Employment and
Employability Institute), 72 hotels pledged their commitment at HT
2010 to enhance productivity framed by five key principles, namely
Company Policy, Human Capital Management &
Development, Productivity Improvement Measures, Contributing to the
Common Effort and Sharing the Fruits of
Productivity.
Building on this momentum, SHA is now leading a
Productivity Steering Committee to spearhead productivity
initiatives in the hotel sector. Recently, the Committee has conducted a review of hotel
operations. It has published a very comprehensive report with
recommendations on best practices and solutions at various levels.
Recommendations include strengthening competitiveness
through job redesign, building capabilities to improve
operational efficiencies and strengthening the workforce though
competitive remuneration.
SHA also plans to launch an online registry
for casual labour for the hotel industry in July. With such a
registry in place, hotels will be able to better augment their
manpower needs. The Singapore Tourism Board is
supporting
SHA by building productivity toolkits and developing productivity
benchmark indicators. These will help track improvements in the
industry’s operational level. Nanyang Polytechnic and the Workforce
Development Agency have also joined STB and SHA to develop a
productivity manager training programme specifically tailored to
the hotel sector.I hope that more hotels will seize this
opportunity and participate in these initiatives and
programmes.
Maintaining the Momentum of the Productivity
Movement in the Hotel
Sector
Our hotels will need
to be flexible and adaptable to leverage
on the buoyant tourism growth. One key challenge is to attract
skilled manpower. The tight labour market will make it challenging
to attract and retain valuable employees.The situation is made more
challenging by the fact that average wages in this sector are
currently amongst the lowest in the services industry[2].Innovative
solutions are required to help reduce the reliance on manpower and
move towards higher-skilled jobs. This will enable hotels to offer
higher paying jobs which will in turn attract and retain
talent.
This tight labour challenge is not unique to the
hotel sector. Singapore’s economy is expected to grow by 5-7% in
2011 and unemployment is at a historical low.
The constraints in labour supply also mean that
every sector, firm, manager and worker must focus on restructuring
processes and jobs to make better use of better quality workers –
in other words, productivity-driven growth. This will help us to
make best use of limited resources, and will also help us to
generate growth that can bring benefits to both companies and
workers. For us to succeed, every individual has to take the
initiative to improve and innovate in their jobs to create more
value, and to make jobs more attractive and
remunerative.
Changes in the National Productivity and
Continuing Education Council
I had likened the productivity movement to
brisk-walking earlier in Parliament this year.Anyone can
brisk-walk, and everyone should. It can be a lifelong habit to keep
you fit and healthy.Improving productivity is similar – it is a
continuing process that needs to be a habit.If we are able to build
up this habit, Singapore will remain
competitive.
Towards this end, the National Productivity and
Continuing Education Council was set up last year to galvanise the national
productivity drive. The Council had 3 objectives: first, to
prioritise and champion productivity initiatives at the sectoral,
enterprise and worker levels; second, to develop a comprehensive,
first-class national Continuing Education and Training system; and
third, to entrench a culture of productivity and continuous
learning and upgrading in Singapore.
Productivity roadmaps specific to 12 priority
sectors, including the hotel sector, were developed to identify and
bridge specific productivity gaps. We have made much progress and
are now in the process of implementing the recommendations and
solutions.
The awareness that boosting productivity is
essential for sustainable growth is steadily gaining
ground
With most of the productivity roadmaps now in
place, the on-going work of implementing the various productivity
initiatives will be ramping up. This is a suitable juncture for me
to hand over the chairmanship of the National Productivity and
Continuing Education Council. DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be
coordinating the government’s economic and social policies. It is
apt that he takes charge of the council and guides it into the next
phase.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
the members of the council for their invaluable contributions.
Their insights and experiences as leaders in the unions, private and public
sector have been crucial in helping to
map out the productivity strategies for the different
sectors. I am confident that the momentum of productivity
improvements will be sustained under DPM Tharman’s
charge.
I would also like to urge all enterprises and
workers in Singapore to continue to work hand-in-hand with the
council and to press on to raise productivity. While we have
schemes and resources in place, the drive must ultimately come from
our companies and our workers themselves. Only then will we see the
rewards of bigger markets and higher profits, and more secure and
higher paying jobs.
Conclusion
Before I end, I would like to commend SHA on 50
years of tireless effort and partnership in helping to build up a
strong hotel industry for Singapore. The productivity efforts led
by SHA typify its importance and contribution to the industry. I
wish SHA and all of you in the industry many more good
years.