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Aviation Safety: Fatigue management

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In aviation operations, managing fatigue is important because it diminishes an individual’s ability to perform almost all operational tasks. This clearly has implications for operational efficiency, but in situations where individuals are undertaking safety-critical activities, fatigue-effected performance can also have consequences for safety outcomes. Fatigue is a natural consequence of human physiology.

Because fatigue is affected by all waking activities (not only work demands), fatigue management has to be a shared responsibility between the State, service providers and individuals.

A brief history of flight and/or duty limitations

For most workers, hours of work are part of the working conditions and remuneration packages established through industrial agreements or social legislation. They are not necessarily established from a safety perspective.

However, the need to limit pilots’ flight and duty hours for the purpose of flight safety was recognized in ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in the first edition of Annex 6 published in 1949.  At that time, ICAO SARPs required the operator to be responsible for establishing flight time limits that ensured that “fatigue, either occurring in a flight or successive flights or accumulating over a period of time, did not endanger the safety of a flight”. These limits had to be approved by the State.

By 1995, ICAO SARPs required States to establish flight time, flight duty periods and rest periods for international flight and cabin crew. The onus was on the State to identify “informed boundaries” that aimed to address the general fatigue risk for flight operations nationally. At no time have ICAO SARPs identified actual flight and duty hours because it had proven impossible to identify global limits that adequately addressed operational contexts in different regions.While ICAO SARPs apply only to international operations, many States also chose to establish similar flight and duty time limitations for domestic operations. States generally used the same flight and duty limits for helicopter crew as for airline crew.

The fallacy of flight and/or duty limitations is that staying within them means that operations are always safe. Buying into this fallacy suggests that scheduling to the limits is enough to manage fatigue-related risks. However, more recent SARP amendments related to prescriptive limits have highlighted the responsibilities of the operator to manage their particular fatigue-related risks within the limits using their SMS processes.

And then there was FRMS….

Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) represent an opportunity for operators to use their resources more efficiently and increase operational flexibility outside the prescriptive limits, whilst maintaining or even improving safety. In implementing an FRMS, the onus shifts to the operator to prove to the State that what they propose to do and how they continue to operate under an FRMS, is safe.

In 2011, SARPs enabling FRMS as an alternative means of compliance to prescriptive limitations were developed for aeroplane flight and cabin crew (Annex 6, Part I).  At the time of development, it was necessary to address concerns that airline operators would take this as an opportunity to schedule purely for economic benefits at the cost of safety. Therefore, while often referred to as “performance-based” approach, the FRMS SARPs are nevertheless very prescriptive about the necessary elements of an FRMS and require the explicit approval of an operator’s FRMS by the State.

Since then, similar FRMS SARPs were made applicable for helicopter flight and cabin crew in 2018 (Annex 6, Part III, Section II).

But what about air traffic controllers?

Despite their obvious impact on flight safety outcomes, ICAO SARPs have never required the hours of work to be limited for air traffic controllers even though some States have had hours of duty limitations for air traffic controllers for many years. This is about to change. Amendments to Annex 11, becoming applicable in 2020, will require that ICAO States establish duty limits and specify certain scheduling practices for air traffic controllers. As for international airline and helicopter operations, States will have the option of establishing FRMS regulations for air traffic service providers.

Fatigue Management SARPs today

Today, ICAO’s fatigue management SARPs support both prescriptive and FRMS approaches for managing fatigue such that:

  • Both approaches are based on scientific principles, knowledge and operational experience that take into account:
    • the need for adequate sleep (not just resting while awake) to restore and maintain all aspects of waking function (including alertness, physical and mental performance, and mood);
    • the circadian rhythms that drive changes in the ability to perform mental and physical work, and in sleep propensity (the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep), across the 24h day;
    • interactions between fatigue and workload in their effects on physical and mental performance; and
    • the operational context and the safety risk that a fatigue-impaired individual represents in that context.
  • States continue to be obliged to have flight and duty time limitations but are under no obligation to establish FRMS regulations. Where FRMS regulations are established, the operator/service provider, can manage none, some or all of its operations under an FRMS, once approved to do so.
  • Prescriptive fatigue management regulations now provide the baseline, in terms of safety equivalence, from which an FRMS is assessed.

In practice…

In Airlines:  The Fatigue Management amendments to the Annex 6, Part I, in 2011 led many States  to reviewing their prescriptive limitation regulations for pilots based on scientific principles and knowledge (refer text box) and identifying further requirements for operators to manage their fatigue-related risks within the prescribed limits.  Fewer States have reviewed their prescriptive limitation regulations for cabin crew.

In every case, despite a refocus on providing adequate opportunities for sleep and recovery, altering existing flight and duty limitations remains a very sensitive and difficult task because it impacts income and work conditions as well as the constraints of pre-existing employment agreements. It is made even more challenging for States whose flight and duty time limitations are legislated.

Where States have reviewed their prescribed flight and duty limits, the increased awareness of the relationship between sleep and performance has served to highlight the responsibilities of the individual crew member and the airline to manage fatigue, and in some cases have resulted in the prescribed limits sitting alongside a set of regulations  that make these responsibilities more explicit, e.g. the FAA’s Fatigue Risk Management Program, EASA’s Fatigue Management requirements, CASA’s Fatigue Management requirements and CAA South Africa’s Fatigue Management Program.

The scientific principles of fatigue management

 

  1. Periods of wake need to be limited.  Getting enough sleep (both quantity and quality) on a regular basis is essential for restoring the brain and body.
  2. Reducing the amount or the quality of sleep, even for a single night, decreases the ability to function and increases sleepiness the next day.
  3. The circadian body-clock affects the timing and quality of sleep and produces daily highs and lows in performance on various tasks.
  4. Workload can contribute to an individual’s level of fatigue.  Low workload may unmask physiological sleepiness while high workload may exceed the capacity of a fatigued individual.

Many States have established, or plan to establish, FRMS regulations, often at the encouragement of their airlines. The FRMS challenge for States continues to be whether they have the resources to provide the necessary oversight from a scientific and performance-based perspective, particularly when the same regulations usually apply to a variety of domestic flight operations. While FRMS requirements are onerous and time-consuming, the few airlines who have so far managed to get FRMS approval for particular routes have found the operational flexibility gained to be worth the effort.

General scheduling principles

 

  1. The perfect schedule for the human body is daytime duties with unrestricted sleep at night. Anything else is a compromise.
  2. The circadian body clock does not adapt fully to altered schedules such as night work.
  3. Whenever a duty period overlaps a crew member’s usual sleep time, it can be expected to restrict sleep. Examples include early duty start times, late duty end times, and night work.
  4. The more that a duty period overlaps a crew member’s usual sleep time, the less sleep the crew member is likely to obtain. Working right through the usual nighttime sleep period is the worst case scenario.
  5. Night duty also requires working through the time in the circadian body clock cycle when self-rated fatigue and mood are worst and additional effort is required to maintain alertness and performance.
  6. The longer a crew member is awake, the worse their alertness and performance become.
  7. Across consecutive duties with restricted sleep, crew members will accumulate a sleep debt and fatigue-related impairment will increase.
  8. To recover from sleep debt, crew members need a minimum of two full nights of sleep in a row. The frequency of recovery breaks should be related to the rate of accumulation of sleep debt.
  9. Keep short notice changes to a minimum, especially where they infringe or overlap the  Window of Circadian Low (WOCL).
  10. Duty periods associated with high workload (such as multiple, challenging landings and in marginal weather conditions) may need to be shortened and extensions avoided where at all possible.

In Helicopter Operations:  For some States, the recent amendments to Annex 6, Part II (Section II) have highlighted the need to establish flight and duty time limits for helicopter crew members that better relate to the context of helicopter operations, rather than using the same limits as for airline pilots. Within those limits, the helicopter operator is expected to build crew schedules that use both fatigue science and operational knowledge and experience.

A new fatigue management guide for helicopter operators, currently under development in ICAO, identifies general scheduling principles based on fatigue science to guide helicopter operators in building “fatigue-aware” schedules that offer optimum opportunities for sleep and recovery (refer text box).

The particular challenge in helicopter operations, however, is that so many helicopter operations are unscheduled. While some helicopter operators will be able to operate within prescribed limits and effectively manage fatigue risks using an SMS, many types of helicopter operations, such as those that require unscheduled, immediate responses, possibly in high-risk settings, will benefit from the operational flexibility and safety gains of an FRMS.

In Air Traffic Control Services: Next year, States are expected to have established prescriptive work hour limits for air traffic controllers, while FRMS regulations remain optional and can be established at any time. However, the nature of the relationship between the Air Navigation Services Provider (ANSP) and the State will influence how the implementation of fatigue management regulations will unfold. In most cases, the State provides oversight of only one ANSP and although there is a current trend for privatisation, many of the ANSPs are fully or partially owned by the State.

In an industry sector that is often largely self-regulated, the distinction between a prescriptive fatigue management approach and FRMS may become blurred. However, a refocus on safety and not only organisational expediency or personal preference is likely to have substantial effects on the way controllers’ work schedules are built in ANSPs across the world. This is a “watch this space”.

Fatigue Management Guidance for ICAO States

The Manual for the Oversight of Fatigue Management Approaches (Doc 9966) received another update this year – Version 2 (Revised) – and an unedited version (in English only) will shortly replace the current manual available for download here. On this website you can also find the following:

  • Fatigue Management Guide for Airline Operators (2nd Edition, 2015)
  • Fatigue Management Guide for General Aviation Operators of Large and Turboject Aeroplane (1st Edition, 2016)
  • Fatigue Management Guide for Air Traffic Service Providers (1st Edition, 2016)
  • The Fatigue Management Guide for Helicopter Operators (1st Edition) is expected to be available later this year.

The Fatigue Management Guide for Helicopter Operators (1st Edition) is expected to be available later this year.

The author, Dr. Michelle Millar, is the Technical Officer (Human Factors) and the NGAP Program Manager at ICAO. She heads the ICAO FRMS Task Force and has been involved in the development of ICAO fatigue management provisions since 2009. Her academic background is in sleep, fatigue and performance.

 

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Living as a digital nomad: some unexpected issues you may face

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Digital nomad’s life is the one that most people want to have. It seems so easy and fun for a person to work while traveling the world creating new experiences and seeing new places. All this without having to press pause on their paycheck! Of course, there are numerous benefits to this type of living. However, there are also stresses and pressures that aren’t talked as much as the highs of this type of work. The benefits depend on where you come from, where you travel to and what type of work you do. This article will highlight some of the unexpected issues that people are living the digital nomad life experience while living the life. They are going to help you make more informed choices and allow to weight and find out if you can handle these issues, before you choose this type of work.

  • You will never have a routine

The unpredictability of freelance work is unsettling and psychologically draining. It can make one more anxious especially if they do not have a reliable and stable source of income. It can be stressful to find cheap prices for anything. If you are a student, you may also want to check out some writing service review where you can get good services for your essays and homework. So keenly go over the edusson.com review and figure out how much it will cost you to have an essay done.

People who work in offices have routines. They know what they will be doing at 5 p.m. a day from today. Most people who start the nomad life are in it because they craved a break from all these routines. They were worried about being slaves to the predictability of life. One of the biggest sacrifices that they need to make is to live a life without any routines whatsoever. In truth, even the smallest forms of routines are great for both mental and emotional health. These routines make you more productive because they create better structure; they eliminate distractions and are helpful to your general rhythms of life.

  • Not being taken seriously

This is an issue that affects the mental health of most who love nomadic traveling. People may frequently tell you that you are not struggling because your life is perfect. They may wonder why you are complaining. There seems that there is no way people are going to take you seriously. They assume that your life is full of constant streams of gorgeous places and that you accomplish all your bucket list experiences in a month. They assume that these enviable circumstances cannot possibly be stressful.

In fact, some people might complain about their life and issue that you will feel guilty when you want to talk about your challenges. As a result of this sense of shame, most remote workers will never write honestly about how they feel. They will share amazing captions with their cool selfies from Thailand and act like life could not be better for them. The last thing anyone wants is to appear spoiled and ungrateful. They stop addressing issues that are serious and real, and may even end up in depression and stress since they ignore the real issues they face daily. Studies have shown that one in every four people can experience mental health problems in their lifetime at least once. A quarter of all the people who experience these problems each year are digital nomads. The unpredictable and isolated lifestyle of traveling full time makes them more likely to suffer from this problem. The stigma surrounding these problems makes it difficult to talk about.

  • It is a lonely life

Human beings are social creatures. They are meant to create long term friendships. However, these relationships require a person to dedicate time and effort into creating lasting bonds. While traveling is great, it does not allow people to create and maintain these relationships. This is probably why these digital nomads do not have families until they settle down for more predictable lives. When you are only staying somewhere for a short period, it is impossible to create deep connections with people or make any sort of warm enthusiastic friendships that happen between gregarious strangers in a great mood. While these are also fun, they are nor, by definition, true friendships. You may have many short term friends and may likely create relationships that might last a lifetime, but nothing deep. None of them will know you better than you know yourself.

  • Unhealthy eating habits

Well, you will definitely want to sample everything. You will want to find out which delicacies are also the best. That is fine. However, because of your unpredictable life, it will be difficult to set time for workouts. You also live in hotels so you may probably not have time to make yourself some healthy homemade meals. Your sleeping patterns will also be all over the place. With these habits, having a healthy life is going to be difficult.

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Destinations need new resources to tackle the “invisible burden” of tourism

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A report published today by the Travel Foundation, Cornell University’s Centre for Sustainable Global Enterprise and EplerWood International describes how destinations must uncover and account for tourism’s hidden costs, referred to as the “invisible burden,” to protect and manage vital destination assets worldwide. Failing to do so puts ecosystems, cultural wonders, and community life at increasing risk, and places the tourism industry on a weak foundation that could crack under its own weight.

The range of costs not currently accounted for include those needed to:

  • upgrade infrastructure beyond resident needs, to meet tourism demand;
  • manage and protect public spaces, monuments, the environment and natural habitats;
  • mitigate exposure to climate change risks; and
  • address the needs of locals affected by rising real estate prices, driven by the demand from tourism.

Either residents are left to pay these costs, or they are simply not paid, increasingly leading to environmental crises, spoiled tourism assets, and growing dissatisfaction among local residents. Destination authorities urgently need access to new resources, systems and expertise to ensure that, as tourism grows, the true costs of every new visitor are fully covered.

Amid increasing concern about “overtourism” and calls from within the travel industry for improved destination management, the report, Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism, was commissioned by the Travel Foundation to better understand the challenges and constraints that national and municipal authorities face. It provides a thorough review of the risks that destinations face and the solutions urgently needed, including:

  • New local accounting systems that capture the full range of costs stemming from the growth of tourism, in place of an incomplete set of economic impact measures.
  • New skills and cross sector collaboration, underpinned by data and technology, to achieve effective spatial planning, manage demand for public utilities and services, and evaluate the availability of vital, local resources.
  • New valuation and financing mechanisms to redress debilitating underinvestment in infrastructure and local asset management and enable the transition to low-carbon destination economies.

Principal report author, Megan Epler Wood, said: “The Earth’s greatest treasures are cracking under the weight of the soaring tourism economy.  New data-driven systems to identify the cost of managing tourism’s most valued assets are required to stem a growing crisis in global tourism management.  With the right leadership, finance and analysis in place, a whole new generation of tourism professionals can move forward and erase the invisible burden while benefiting millions around the globe.”

Salli Felton, CEO of the Travel Foundation, said: “The invisible burden goes a long way to explain why we are now witnessing destinations failing to cope with tourism growth, despite the economic benefits it brings. It’s not enough to call on governments and municipalities to manage tourism better, if they don’t have access to the right skills and resources to do so. Destination managers need support to develop new skills and new ways of working that will enable them to move beyond tourism marketing.”

Dr Mark Milstein, co-author of the report, said: “This is a challenge of investing for the long-term health of a critical global economic sector. Future success will require collaboration among business, government, and civil society so that destinations are managed as the valuable, yet vulnerable, assets that they are.”

The authors conclude that some destinations are more vulnerable to the invisible burden and should be prioritised. For instance:

  1. Where there is a high risk of climate change impacts (which would disproportionately affect a visitor economy) – for instance, island states.
  2. Where the rise of the global middle class is driving tourism growth at unsustainable levels – for instance, in Southern and Southeast Asia.
  3. Where there is a high percentage of economic dependence on tourism – for instance, in the Caribbean.
  4. Where the ability of local government to manage tourism growth is low, in terms of budgets and human capital – a problem that has been found in both advanced and emerging economies.

The analysis draws upon academic literature, case studies, expert interviews and media reports, and provides a wealth of examples of the invisible burden.  Cases are drawn from Thailand, Mexico, and the Maldives, as well as Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The report also gives insights into types of data-driven systems, such as GIS mapping tools and the Smart Cities concept, which can address growth issues and facilitate new forms of investment.

The free report is available at invisibleburden.org.

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Five challenges confronting Meetings Industry in 2019

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Tight meeting budgets, time pressures, organizational issues, a lack of creativity from hotels, increasingly complex and costly mandates in catering, a need for more dynamic and enriching experiences and resistance to change – these are among the major challenges confronting the meetings industry in 2019.Teneo Hospitality Group surveyed 150 meeting planners and hoteliers on the challenges they faced in effectively competing in today’s changing and complicated marketplace. Interestingly, some of the challenges planners faced are internal, within their own organizations. All identified limited meetings budgets, lack of time and somewhat inflexible corporate cultures that gave rise to additional problems such as a lack of innovation and poor cost control.

“‘Many of these challenges – and their solutions – are interdependent,” says Teneo President Mike Schugt. He notes that meeting professionals are saying that they have concerns within their organization and corporate cultures which contribute to resistance to change, resulting in budgets that are impacted negatively. Planners are also saying that these challenges, coupled with the many demands on time, inhibit creative strategies that could otherwise help solve the obstacles pointed out in Teneo’s most recent survey.

“Teneo and its hotel and DMC members have a unique opportunity to step up and help solve the challenges of our planner partners,” says Mike Schugt. “We can introduce creative, time-saving offerings that can also meet their bottom line. By understanding the needs that go beyond rates, dates and space, hotels can provide innovative, solutions to the challenges planners face behind the scenes.”

Challenge #1 Budgets. Inadequate budgets headed the challenge lists for all survey participants. Planners cited rising costs, especially concerning food and beverage, with no comparable increase in budgets. The complexities of gaining budget increases from various corporate departments impact every aspect of the meeting process from training staff to negotiating contracts. Despite a strong economy, some planners reported budget cuts. Respondents noted that the inability to obtain adequate funding reflected a lack of understanding of the profound changes in the meetings industry that demanded more, not less, investment. Needs of attendees are very different today, especially among Millennials and Generation Z who require a high degree of technical services, greater engagement and entertaining activities – needs that are difficult to meet on a tight budget. Yet management and attendees had extremely high expectations.

Suggested Solution: The fundamental way planners can achieve their budget is to be transparent and in open communication with a property. Though the tendency may be to play one’s cards close to the vest, transparency from the beginning of negotiations is key to effective planning and keeping costs in check. While many planners feel they must keep back some of their budgetary concerns until further on in the planning process, an honest and comprehensive view of the meetings objectives and resources will enable hoteliers to present a realistic budget.

Challenge #2 Lack of Time. Time pressures impact every business and organization, but some concerns have particular ramifications for the meetings industry. Virtually all respondents cited a lack of time and identified challenges that could have far-reaching consequences. With sweeping advances in technology impacting the industry, hoteliers and planners noted that they often lacked the time to keep up with technical developments. This problem was amplified when attendees were ahead of the planners and hotels in their own use of technology. Training a new generation of meeting planners and hotel staff is key to the industry’s progress. But few had time to develop effective programs, tailored to meet the different viewpoints and technical skills of a new generation. Most significantly, respondents worried that the overwhelming details of day-to-day work left little time for long-term, strategic planning. And the top time waster? Too many unnecessary e-mails.

Suggested Solution: Hotels are often inundated with leads and may not always be able to reply in 24 hours. Planners are encouraged to indicate their timeline for response up front so hotels and resorts can offer a higher quality of response. For planners, they can then gather their lead responses all at one time and be assured that the quality of response is going to be higher if a little more time is allocated to the properties of interest. Planners that source more than 6 or 7 hotels per lead and in multiple cities will tend to be taken less seriously by a hotel. So planners can save time and drive up quality of response by reducing the number of hotel sources they contact.

If planners can share flexibility with dates early in the process, they will save time and the hotels can provide multiple options, which will likely have differences in pricing leading to greater value with the budget. Giving the hotel as much information as possible saves everyone time and can save on the budget.

Challenge #3 Keeping Up with Technology. In a technological environment that is moving at lightning speed, staying current and knowledgeable of technology’s impact on meeting productivity can be daunting. Realizing that millennial attendees may be way ahead in their technical knowledge, technology applications and expectations can be intimidating. Even leadership within select organizations don’t always seem to grasp how technology is revolutionizing the meetings experience today.

Suggested Solution: Staying current and out front with technological progress is critical to the successful outcome of every meeting, conference or social gathering. Yes, some long-term practices are still prized such as white boards and LCD players. But engaging with attendee devices puts the meeting’s learning literally in the hands of conferees in a way that resonates within a generation who grew up on texting, social media posts, interactive apps and more. These are the tools they use for their everyday living, and should be the tools they can expect to use within meetings important to their and their employer’s success.

Challenge #4 Lack of Creativity. Big brand hotels’ corporate bureaucracy partially accounts for planners’ demand for greater creativity in the meeting process, and a far more flexible business environment. Larger hotel brands often have corporate policies that may place limits on pushing the boundaries of creating the ultimate meeting experiences for planners. But the need for innovation and original events, imaginative use of technology, effective teambuilding exercises, new experiences in even the most tried and true destinations, and diverse, sustainable and healthy food cannot be ignored.

Suggested Solution: Partner with a hotel or resort that creatively works with planners and groups to construct a meeting itinerary customized to a specific group and set of meeting objectives. Independent and small brand properties, by the very nature of their independence, have proven to be expert in creatively discovering and helping plan for achieving meeting goals of professional planners and groups, doing so with out-of-the-box thinking, highly unique group initiatives, and far from run-of-the-mill teambuilding programming. Private destination management companies can also be an important resource, and Teneo suggests partnering with them to help make a city or destination come alive for meeting guests by maximizing local resources and attractions in a way that is meaningful to the group.

Challenge #5 Increasing Complexity and Rising Costs of Food & Beverage. As the population becomes more diverse, food preferences and dietary requirements have become more complicated. Growing awareness of wellness and sustainability issues add to a mix that could become more problematic and costlier. Paleo, keto, pescatarian, vegan and religious dietary requests are among the newest trends in conference dining in 2019. Respondents also called for better management of food ordering to keep costs down and eliminate waste.

Suggested Solution: This is an area where independent and small-brand hotels can get ultra-creative for the planner as they are in a more entrepreneurial and creative mode, less restricted by big-brand requirements and constraints. They can typically offer a more creative product with reduced costs. By working with chefs and banquet managers from these properties at the beginning of the planning process and being candid about budget constraints, it’s possible to obtain serious savings on food and beverage while achieving maximum creativity.

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Reimagining tourism for the future

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In the last decade or so, tourism has positioned itself as a critical variable in the development planning space and the development discourse globally. Today businesses, governments, international organizations as well as NGOs have established, or are establishing programs, initiatives and programs to facilitate tourism for development. Academic institutions have also been introducing, organizing or reorganizing ‘tourism’ as an important element of their curriculum. The University of the West Indies is no exception. Through its many courses, centers and institutes, the UWI has been preparing our Caribbean nationals for the expanding opportunities and benefits being presented by the growth of the tourism sector. But we have much more to do.

Tourism and Development

According to the UNTWO, WTTC, CTO, PATA and several other regional and global institutions, tourism has been recognized as that force, which accelerates human development, social and economic inclusiveness, increased entrepreneurship and self-employment, the generation of decent work, environmental sustainability and also support regional integration.

Indeed, the contribution of tourism to both national and regional development continues to be enormous and I dare say unmatched. Firstly, tourism is linked to the notion of a sustainable economy in several ways. The economic indicators show that Caribbean is the most-tourism dependent in the world, tourism is the main economic sector in 16 out of 28 Caribbean states and the total contribution of tourism to employment in the Caribbean is estimated at 2.4 million jobs according to the World Travel and Tourism Annual Report for 2018. In Jamaica tourism employs one in every four persons.

Beyond direct employment tourism and hospitality there are vast indirect opportunities for supplying inputs to tourism enterprises catering to the visitor experience in areas such as accommodations, food and beverage, cultural and creative arts, entertainment and recreation, agriculture, manufacturing, banking and finance and foreign exchange.

Tourism is also linked to the preservation of heritage and culture through the concept of experiential tourism. Most tourists travel to have authentic experiences that require that they partake in activities and consume and acquire products/goods that are indigenous to the countries they travel. Tourism thus helps to preserve natural and cultural resources while generating revenues and incomes for local populations.

To unlock the potential of tourism to contribute to inclusive growth and development our main focus at the Ministry of Tourism is to find innovate ways to reduce economic leakage in the tourism sector and to improve retention. This mandate is already being executed through our Linkages Network which has been coordinating policies and strategies designed to strengthen linkages with other sectors of the economy particularly the agricultural and manufacturing sector, strengthen the benefits derived from the industry by local residents and communities and promote broader participation by nationals.

We however recognize that the competitiveness 0f the Caribbean destinations will significantly rely on how well we prepare our people for the emerging opportunities. If Caribbean destinations are to remain globally-competitive and increase their share of the global tourist market, we must find ways to unlock new sources of competitiveness and comparative advantage.

Traditionally the tourism sector has enjoyed one of the highest rates of labor mobility of any segment of the economy. However, many of the opportunities taken up by our citizens are those that require low skill and offer limited prospect for economic mobility. This fact is largely attributable to the fact that the majority of the tourism-related jobs are deemed to require low to medium-level technical skills. The global tourism market is however becoming increasingly differentiated and segmented. Consequently, the continued growth of Travel & Tourism in the region will depend on the right people with the right skills being available to meet this demand for additional human capital. And we at the MOT have been working to create a paradigm shift in the local tourism space which will see our citizens accessing more substantive jobs and I will discuss this some more in a minute.

Many trends are impacting the skills needed to perform competently in tourism-related jobs such as digitalization and virtualization, the need for sustainable behaviors & practices, the growth of non-traditional segments, the changing demographics of international travelers (more youthful, more specific), changing lifestyles and consumer demands and the need for data-driven policies. Technology has had a significant impact on tourism-related employment as well as supporting and changing how services are delivered. While technology has downgraded certain skills in the tourism sector it has upgraded other skills, particularly in the areas of marketing, information and communication. Caribbean destinations must recognize the differing preferences of a new generation of younger travelers and the growing importance of online services and marketing, especially through mobile internet. The future of tourism lies in the manipulation and exploitation of ICT capabilities such as big data, big data analytics, machine learning, blockchain technologies, the Internet of Things, robotics etc. We thus need to urgently capitalize on the opportunities for high-skilled employment that are being generated in the ICT-related fields in tourism.

The growth of non-traditional markets in Europe, Asia and Central America will require increased focus on cultural studies and the development of competencies in various foreign languages. The increased focus on data-driven policies to better understand the emerging needs of markets, to analyze trends and to predict future patterns means that tourism development strategy must increasingly emphasize research-based skills. The evolving tourism market will require modern managerial skills that can drive performance improvements in the sector by raising productivity through better staff planning and scheduling, employing new technology and improving employee motivation, thereby reducing staff turnover. Most importantly , we must equip our citizens with the competitive business management and marketing skills that are required to operate successful tourism enterprises in this globalized era.

In the current dispensation, the hospitality sector has to contend with negative perceptions of low wages and the lack of career opportunities beyond entry-level jobs. Studies have found that many university students have a peripheral view of tourism. There is oftentimes scarce information and misconceptions about the skills required as well as the opportunities for career development. National governments must take a lead in developing a long-term workforce development strategy. Ideally, such a strategy would be developed within the broader context of improving the industry’s competitiveness and sustainability, since the increasing demand for skilled labor will continue to present a major challenge in all countries. It is highly recommended that strategies and their implementation should be carried out with the private and education sectors and embrace agreed-upon commitments from the industry.

A robust institutional framework is needed to determine the education and training policies and programs that will support a more attractive labor market and business environment in tourism which will allow the industry to maintain a sufficient and highly-qualified workforce and hence support the enhancement of productivity in the industry. My view is that while formal qualifications are not always required in tourism, their existence, and a widely available opportunity to obtain qualifications and competency development in tourism may contribute to raising the prestige of the occupation and the sector in general.

A study by the WTTC revealed that Travel & Tourism’s human capital challenges are significantly higher than those faced in other sectors with most countries in study projecting to face a talent ‘deficit’ or ‘shortage’ in Travel & Tourism over the next ten years. Talent development will also prevent many high-skilled positions from being filled by migrant workers. Both public and private sector are thus encouraged to act now to address the anticipated talent shortage.

Given the robust nature of UWI’s tourism portfolio which was recently expanded with the recent launch of the region’s first Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, here at UWI, changes in the tourism space, new instruction technologies, the ever diversifying nature of tourism, it is time for the UWI to reimagine its tourism portfolio and consolidate its programs, courses, institutes, centers, etc. under one roof here in one of the Caribbean’s mecca of tourism (Montego Bay) with the establishment of a school or a faculty of Tourism.

Indeed, UWIs global recognition as a powerful intellectual institution will position the UWI to make an even more substantive contribution to the development of the region through such a Faculty or School. Certainly, this effort would have my support, and, although I cannot speak for my Caribbean counterparts, I am more than certain it would also have the support of the government of the region. More specifically, in keeping with the mandate of the administration that I am apart of, I reiterate my commitment to promoting a sustainable tourism product that advances the well-being of local communities and that incorporates more local talent in the delivery of tourism services.

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Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event yields over $630 million in contracts for local entrepreneurs

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett yesterday revealed that his Ministry’s Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event has resulted in local Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) negotiating contracts valued at over $630 million, over the past three years.

Speaking at this year’s staging of the Speed Networking event in Montego Bay, the Minister said, “I am pleased to share that Speed Networking 2016 resulted in contracts valued at some $181 million; while the 2017 event saw suppliers benefitting from over $200 million in contracts; and in 2018, the value of these contracts grew to over $250 million. That is over $630 million in contacts for local SMTEs from just three one-day linkages events.”

He also noted that among the top beneficiaries of the event, were Boss Furniture and Tortuga Rum Cakes.

Boss Furniture won a contract valued at $30 million to provide bedding and furnishings to Montego Bay’s new S Hotel while another $10 million in contracts with that property is in the pipeline.

In addition, Boss Furniture CEO Omar Azan is also in negotiation with the Sandals and Hendrickson Groups to supply their properties with locally made bedding and furniture. Tortuga Rum Cakes also negotiated a $500,000 contract with Half Moon Hotel, from their participation in the event.

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, (right) converses with (from left) Princess Hotels and Resorts’ Rafael Millán, President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (JMEA), Metry Seaga, and Director of the Tourism Linkages Network, Carolyn McDonald-Riley at the fifth staging of the Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event.
Princess Hotels and Resorts, ranked eighth in the Spanish market has 19 hotels. They will construct 2000 new rooms in Hanover, to the tune of some USD500Million. The business-to-business initiative took place on March 20, 2019 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“This event is a tremendous help to local manufacturers, farmers and service providers. In creating these linkages, it helps us to grow our business, provide jobs for our people, provide revenue for the government, and in the end grow our economies. Two years ago, I attended the event and got a big order from a hotelier and it can be like that for any supplier,” said Mr Azan.

The Minister noted that the event is a key initiative designed to offer support to SMTEs and helps to strengthen the linkages between tourism and other sectors of the economy, and in so doing, increases the economic impact of the sector.

“The strategy must be to increase the capacity to supply the demands that tourism consumption patterns require and find creative ways of building entrepreneurship among our local stakeholders to fill these requirements. In this way, we will retain more of the revenue generated by tourism in the local economy and stop leakages,” he said.

The Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event took place on March 20 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. It is a core initiative of the Tourism Linkages Network in close collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Jamaica Manufacturers’ Exporters’ Association (JMEA), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC).

The event format features fifteen minute pre-scheduled meeting appointments between Managing Directors, General Managers or CEOs of local supplier companies of products and services with Owners or Managers of properties, restaurants, attractions and other tourism entities throughout the course of one day.

Additional representatives from core areas within the hotel’s operation such as Purchasing, Food and Beverage and Maintenance who are in a position to make purchasing decisions also attend.

For this year’s staging organizers targeted suppliers from areas such as: Digital marketing, Content capture services, Maintenance providers and Entertainment. Other suppliers included areas such as furniture, fresh produce, craft, chemicals and cleaning products, cosmetics and spa products, training, electrical services and construction.

“Last year we had 56 supplier companies and 33 tourism entities in attendance. This year we have 110 supplier companies and 57 tourism entities, proof that this event is gaining traction because participants are seeing results,” said the Minister.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Ethiopian Airlines refutes wrong reporting of the New York Times

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Ethiopian Airlines would like to refute the following wrong reporting of the New York Times titled “Ethiopian Airlines Had a Max 8 Simulator, but Pilot on Doomed Flight Didn’t Receive Training”

Ethiopian Airlines, one of the safest and most dependable airlines in the world, is pleased to confirm that Ethiopian pilots have completed the Boeing recommended and FAA approved differences training from the B-737 NG aircraft to the B-737 MAX aircraft before the phase in of the B-737-800 MAX fleet to the Ethiopian operation and before they start flying the B-737-800 MAX.

The pilots had also been made aware of, and well briefed on the Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the FAA following the Lion Air accident. The content of the airworthiness directive has also been well incorporated in all pilot training manuals, operational procedures and working manuals.

The B-737 MAX full flight simulators is not designed to simulate the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) problems.

Ethiopia Airlines urges all concerned to refrain from making uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements during the period of the accident investigation. International regulations require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the final result of the investigation.

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“Plan For Our Kids” and “African Earth Lung” to launch at WTM Africa

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eTN Publisher Juergen Steinmetz talks to Professor Geoffrey Lipman Co-Founder of SUNx – STRONG Universal Network, about the development of “Plan For Our Kids” and the signature “African Earth Lung” to be launched during WTM Africa.

Steinmetz  

Hey Geoffrey, I wanted to get an update from SUNx for  WTM Africa

Lipman

Hi Thomas, we’re just rolling out “Plan for Our Kids” (PFOK)  launched at WTTC’s COP 24 event in Poland at the end of last year. Its goal is to create 100,000 STRONG Climate Champions by 2030 across all UN States. It’s a low cost, CSR linked program, with lifetime learning, from school through graduation into corporate training programs, and it will support Climate Friendly Travel ~ measured to manage: green to grow & 2050 proof to innovate. It will provide cloud connected online education, analytics and a heavy emphasis on innovation, to spread best practice around the system.

Steinmetz

Why is this different from what other organizations like WTTC or UNWTO do ?

Lipman

It’s complementary to all the excellent SDG related sustainability initiatives, of industry and government organizations – across the mobility, hospitality, technology spectrum.  PFOK is just totally focused on responding to eXistential Climate Change. Because if we don’t fix that, all the other stuff won’t matter. So, it targets the next generation of decision makers. And we are appealing to companies and communities who connect with them for the strategic engagement and financing support to make it happen. Industry leaders, financial services, technology innovators all have a massive stake in the future. SUNx is just a catalyst.

Steinmetz 

Why the next generation……… What about now?

Lipman

Climate change is a multi-generational issue. The last generation defined it: This generation recognized it. The next generation will be in the middle of it. They don’t have the institutional baggage and they will have the mindset to implement solutions.

But we have to start now – that’s the climate scientists’ message: that’s the economists’ message and that’s the Greta Thunberg message.

I kind of like the Titanic analogy.  At the end of the day we have to avoid the iceberg and if we do that the ship sails on, life carries on and evolves. But the ship takes a long time to change course – in the case of the Paris Agreement 5 years from 2015 inception to 2020 coming into force. 2030 to ramp up and integrate with the SDG’s And 2050 to stabilize at liveable weather conditions.

Steinmetz

OK why 100,000 STRONG Champions– or did you pull the number out of the air.

Lipman

Well it’s a significant target of educated thought leaders – even for a global  movement – but it’s basically the equivalent of 500 for every UN State. Even for a small island that’s not huge. For a big State we know it will spawn more. And we have a decade to put them in place. They’ll be the Greta Thunberg support system for our sector – helping ensure that Paris targets are met. What’s exciting is that we will be able to provide them with dynamic lifetime learning from our web portal, focused good practice from across the global climate resilience spectrum and a capacity to spread innovation on a real time basis.

Steinmetz    How Will you Finance such an Ambitious Program

Lipman

Visionary Corporate Sponsors from the Travel & Tourism sector and supporting industries, as well as far thinking public sector sources; will take it to scale, country by country. We have a Sponsor and Impact Investor program, as well as a country initiative that costs just 5000 Euro. And we operate as an NGO with low costs and high focus.

We’ve been fortunate to find our first Anchor Sponsor, of 12 we are seeking worldwide for 2019/2020 – and we are grateful to Robin Ingle for his willingness to step up to the plate so quickly. Our plan calls for one from each sub-sector – Transport: Hospitality: Travel Services: from each of 3 regions. Americas: Europe / Middle East/ Africa: Asia/Pacific. As well as one leader per UN State.

Our signature African Earth Lung will of course  require a much bigger Alliance, with much greater finance. But frankly it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something that can have such clear global and local significance. I  saw it before at Rio 92 when Maurice Strong mobilized so much for the planet and a focus on the Amazon. We think this is our chance to help the world and the Congo Basin.

Steinmetz Will you ever stop this kind of corporate campaigning

Lipman

I doubt it.  I worked for IATA for the first 20 years of my career – a wonderful organization that instilled a sense of purpose –  its first Director General told a journalist when he was in his 90’s, that his days began by crawling out of bed to get the Times Newspaper from the doormat. He turned to the obituary column and if he wasn’t there, he got dressed & carried on with life. I’m kind of from that school of thought.

For more information on SUNx, please visit: https://www.thesunprogram.com/

3 min Video About SUNx

 

Travel News | eTurboNews

Things first-time travelers to Jordan should know

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Award-winning Canadian novelist, Colin McAdam, once said, “The best advice I heard before going to Jordan was ‘don’t read anything about it’.” It is indeed true because however much you do your research nothing will prepare you for the overwhelming beauty of this country. Jordan is proud of its rich culture and heritage, warm and welcoming to its tourists, offering them an experience of a lifetime. It is so magnificent that you will need multiple Jordan vacations to get a feel of this land, its culture, lip smacking food, and everything else that it has to offer. Here are some tips for first-time travelers to Jordan which can make their trip a little smoother.

Dress appropriately

Jordan is a Middle Eastern country and contrary to popular notion, it is not a hot desert all year round and to be honest, weather can be quite fickle. Even light snow is not uncommon in the colder northern parts of the country. Therefore, watch out for the weather predictions around your time of visit and pack your clothes accordingly. Certain religious places might require you to dress conservatively, and it is a good thing to be respectful of the culture. Therefore, irrespective of gender, try to carry a few conservatives, clothes covering your legs, chest and arms, to wear when you visit religious spots. Always carry a scarf on you to drape around yourself in case you are required to cover up. Although it is a popular tourist spot and thus, there are no dress codes or restrictions at large, it is a smart idea to be respectful and ditch your skimpy outfits.

Vegetarian options are limited

Food here in Jordan is simply mind blowing and you will fall totally in love with the rich delectable, lip smacking cuisine here. It is a paradise for food lovers, and you are bound to go back home with a few extra kilos. But if you are a vegetarian or vegan you might find your options slightly limited as the entire country is absolutely in love with its various forms, kinds and preparations of meat. Most popular dishes in Jordan are made with some form of animal product or other which is why you have to do a little bit of research to find items which do not contain any form of animal product else you might end up with a seemingly vegetarian dish and it comes out to contain meat.

Try to avoid rush hours

Rush hours in Jordan are mostly during the office hours but traffic jams reach their peak around 2-5pm. Although the yellow cabs of Jordan are super affordable, you might like to avoid taking a cab during these hours in order to avoid higher fares and being stuck. Sometimes taxi drivers are also hesitant or they even tell you honestly that it is better to avoid a certain area due to the jams. If possible, plan your travel accordingly and try to avoid longer distance travel during this time and instead opt for walking around.

Be careful about the water you drink

The weather here, especially around summer can present you with sweltering heat and intense perspiration which demands you to stay hydrated, more so during your sightseeing around Petra, Wadi Rum and other hotter places. You cannot drink water straight out of a tap as tap water here is not potable water and has to be filtered to be drinkable. Avoid drinking water from a source you are unsure of. It is advisable to rely only on packaged drinking water to save yourself from stomach upsets. When you go for sightseeing make sure you carry your own bottle of water to keep yourself hydrated. If you feel dehydrated, opt for ORS for quick re-hydration.

Jordan is a beautiful country steeped in a beautifully ancient culture, where the modern life is growing rapidly, coexisting with the ancient, so that the past in not wiped out by the future. The people are friendly, helpful and kind enough to help you around with directions or guidance so feel free to ask around. It is also quite safe, making it perfect for solo and family vacation alike.

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