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The seasonal partner issue : does it slow down tourist resorts ? Robert POULIQUEN - Head for Youth and Sports, Haute Savoie Department, Annecy, France
To this question, we are bound to respond “Yes” because we confusedly have the feeling that the seasonal nature is contrary to sustainability, a key requirement – supposedly – to a successful growth. But obviously, things are not that simple. The issue addressed invites us to see things from a broader perspective, and split it as follows :
- Who are seasonal partners ?
- Do they have problems ?
- How do these problems affect the growth of resorts ?
Please, bear with me, as I will specifically focus on the mountain tourism assessment. We are located in Chamonix, and mountains have a dual tourist season (namely the winter and the summer) that intensifies the impact of seasonal jobs.
I like the term used: partners rather than workers. Should we see a significant change in PR between employees and employers? We’ll go back to that Seasonal workers in the tourism industry are estimated to 420,000 in France (80,000 in the Rhône-Alpes region). We need to handle this figure cautiously since these workers hold multiple seasonal jobs. They may be classified into four categories :
The first ones are travelling employees, the latter are non-operating employees. The first ones are younger, and they include more men than women. The hotel and catering business sector is by far the main employer (70% of 9,000 seasonal job offers in Savoy last winter). Let’s not forget, of course, the attractive ski lift companies, and their services. Seasonal workers, of all ages, have diverse abilities to adjust to an environment based on their initial income, maturity and mobility. Non trained and experienced or even talented employees live together. The financial uncertainty therefore applies to their job in a very contrasted way.
These are general considerations that allow us to counterbalance from one region, one resort and one occupation to another, the impact of the seasonal nature of employment, without omitting the following important and durable point: there are seasonal workers because the business is seasonal, and this is not a mistake nor an impediment.
Do seasonal partners have problems ?
The answer is “yes”, on the overall. The seasonal worker may have any or several of the following problems: lodging, transportation, health, training or integration. To some extent, he is a foreign worker, so he needs to build and organize his stay as far as financial and private matters are concerned. He does so with a certain amount of wealth.
Lodging seems to have always been a load for the seasonal worker even though in the hospitality business, 90 % of jobs come with lodging amenities. Charitable moves and job inspection have reported questionable material situations: poorly equipped and badly located homes, collective lodging. This tends to decrease but finding room remains difficult, and at a prohibitive cost for the new comer. Transportation, provided that one has a vehicle, can also be a huge challenge in the winter due to bad traffic or simply to a lack of reserved parking lots in busy areas.
Besides these daily burdens, not having enough free time to take care of oneself, paperwork or even children, is also a major drawback.
More importantly, seasonal workers face income difficulties. They have no guarantee to recover their job the following year, and even though most of them have their contract renewed, they need to choose the safest path. As a result, any change in the economy can lead to a change in their destination.
The improved job market of 1999-2000 has suddenly isolated some resorts from hundreds seasonal workers. These workers are not volatile, but rely on job opportunities, except those who have skills linked to the resort life (technicians, sports instructors). As a result, their cooperation is not guaranteed for good.
More privately, some seasonal workers, often among the youngest, have troubles accommodating with their new environment, whether deliberately or not. These misbehaviors may embarrass local elected people, and disturb public order. Such misbehaviors include alcohol and drug taking. Some of these workers are known to be fragile, unstable and easily manipulated..These problems were reported long ago. The Tourism Secretary of State, based on the outcome of Anicet Le Pors’s report, has put forward 15 measures regarding this matter, in February 2000.
How do the seasonal workers’ problems affect the growth of resorts ?
The main issue lies in their number, and relates to the following question: will there be enough workforces to run the resort.
At the beginning of the 2000-2001 winter, local employment agencies had to go to length in order to meet the demand. Some jobs remained unfilled. The quality of services provided to customers, especially crucial to the tourism business, has sometimes been affected. This type of interruption or failure in employment is the most direct and visible impediment to resort growth.
It seems that the hotel and catering business are the most exposed to this shortcoming.
In this setting, the implementation of the 35 hr a week workload is a challenge for most employers.
Related to these recruiting challenges, the investment in the seasonal worker training has been slowed down. The employer is less inclined to spend time with an employee he may never see again. The quality of the services provided to the visitor can also be affected. Generally speaking, the lack of training or experience of the seasonal worker is an impediment.
Following the uncertainty related to his job, income, homesickness and even separation from his hometown, the challenge of a seasonal worker to make himself at ease within the social organization of the resort, might also be a barrier to the resort energy. The feeling of belonging to a community is sometimes lacking, and leads to a kind of indifference or apathy towards the visitor, who notices it.
Since he is not really a stakeholder of the local economy, and shows little interest in sharing profits, the seasonal worker brings back on himself frustrations that another contract organization would probably make him forget.
Finally, there’s also the problem of foreign languages that many seasonal workers are not familiar with. Little aware of the importance of this issue, many of them are not prepared to basic communication with our European neighbors, even through the English language.
It is obviously impossible to financially or statistically quantify the effects of this impediment on the growth of resorts or more precisely on the desirable, ideal services. Let’s simply agree on the fact that we can do better and it is time to do better, knowing that lifestyles and transportation provided to the population at the start of the century give people new and diversified travel opportunities and horizons.
Which solutions ?
First, we need to be reminded of the main objective: make seasonal partners more loyal and skilled, mainly the “travelling” workers. Do we need national policies or local initiatives ?
Considering the diversity of the situations for both employees and employers, we acknowledge that there is neither exclusiveness nor precedence. Any voluntarism experience is welcome. As of today, it has been reported that in the lodging, training, transportation and above all employment areas, innovative operations such as government policies are echoing.
From the purchase of a hotel by a parish to the implementation of a reserved parking lot, through a network training operation or the creation of a pool of employers or a seasonal workers’ home, progress has been made, and no other tourist region is really slow with this.
The following priorities need to be addressed :
