CEO Anticipates Boom In Caribbean Tourism Jobs In The Near Future
As the Caribbean cruise season gets off to a gainful start, Caribbean Employment Services Inc. expects dozens of tourism jobs throughout the region to get much-needed boosts. Caribbean Employment Services Inc. is a market-leading digital talent acquisition service that aims to connect the top talent from the Caribbean with hiring managers, HR professionals and decision-makers in companies both within the Caribbean as well as abroad. Its CEO, Joseph Boll, says if the early signs are any indication, the 2022/2023 cruise season is full of promise for local tourism jobs.
Coming off of two particularly challenging years after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted global travel and heavily impacted the region’s highly valuable tourism product, Caribbean nations are beginning to see a triumphant return of their prized industry. Pent-up demand for travel has greatly benefitted many countries in the region, and especially now that travel restrictions have largely eased around the globe, the Caribbean stands to dramatically recover what was previously lost. Tourism jobs have already begun to return in full force, with taxi drivers, crafts vendors, hair braiders, hotels and hospitality venues, restaurants and more already picking up.
Now, the start of the cruise industry is already off to a strong start. The Caribbean cruise season typically runs from December to April, but can start as early as October. However, some countries, like Bermuda, have been making efforts to become a year-round cruise destination.
Speaking to the strong cruise figures already beginning to come in, Boll says, “I think the major cruise liners have been anticipating this for a while now, given their notably ramped-up recruitment efforts throughout the Caribbean over the summer. Even now, many continue to interview and hire for various positions, indicating that they intend to be well-equipped to deal with the amount of traffic they expect to get this season.”
For the past few months, cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Princess, Carnival Cruise Lines and more have all undertaken either hiring sprees or expansion projects in several Caribbean countries. More than 900 were hired in Barbados; another 1,000 were hired in Trinidad & Tobago; around 400 were hired in Antigua; and some 10,000 cruise jobs were reportedly reserved for Jamaicans. Even further, some of the cruise liners continue to either host or attend job fairs in the region.
Meanwhile, Boll notes that while economic diversification became a hot-button topic during the peak of the pandemic, it was never expected that tourism would completely go away or stop providing jobs for citizens.
“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that tourism provides multiple jobs at once,” says the CEO. “If the cruise industry is really about to rebound as strongly as signs are indicating, there’s going to be a spin-off effect in terms of jobs created and job opportunities made available.”
He added, “I would encourage entrepreneurs and businesses who need to shore up their talent ahead of an expected busy season to make use of online talent acquisition services or job boards like Caribbean Employment Services Inc. as the easy and convenient way to make sure you’re prepared.”
