The National Bureau of Statistics NBS says more foreigners are employed in the tourist resorts than locals.
In its report titled ‘Employment In Tourist Resorts, 2019’ NBS said that a total of 44,954 employees were working in tourist resorts. It noted that this was a 62 percent increase in resort employment compared to the 2014 Census.
The report highlighted that out of the total employees, 23,622 were foreigners and that it accounted for 53 percent of resort staff.
It also said that the data showed that 45 percent of the foreign employees were male while 7 percent were female employees.
NBS said its report that 21, 323 Maldivians were employed in tourist resorts until 2019 and that this accounted for 47 percent of the total number of resort staff across the country.
While 45 percent of the locals employed at resorts were men, local women represented only 3 percent of resort employees.
NBS said that the report showed the need for creating decent work and employment opportunities in resorts for locals. NBS said that it also showed the need to improve the working environment and take measures to attract local women to resort jobs.
The Bureau said that in order to paint a good picture of the benefits of working in the industry, the government needs to collect employment data of the tourism industry on a regular basis and should be a higher priority in terms of national statistics.
The report was based on the findings of a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Tourism titled ‘Resort Employees Survey’ in all the tourist resorts of Maldives during July 2019.
