Securing visas for hotel staff is the biggest challenge faced by hotel operators in Saudi Arabia, according to a top Accor Hospitality exec. The company is currently embarking on an aggressive expansion drive into the Kingdom.
“Saudi is very bureaucratic,” said Christophe Landais, managing director of Accor Hospitality Middle East.
“It takes a lot of time [to obtain visas] and it’s very regulated. The way it works is you have to define in advance how many visas you need and you also have to say how many people are coming from Egypt, how many from India, how many from Asia, etc. and you are then given those visas accordingly. You might select an employee not for his nationality but for his competency and you could then be in a situation where you have found the right person but he is from Egypt and your visa is from India, so it’s a bit of a problem.”
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With more hotel groups looking to expand into Saudi, Landais said it was imperative the government loosened up its visa regulations for the hospitality sector.
“We all have to import foreign staff and although we manage more or less its one of the biggest difficulties we have. I think the Saudi government has to realise they need to be less bureaucratic especially in the hotel and the service industry as a whole. They have to be much more flexible on their rules.”
Accor currently operates nine hotels in Saudi Arabia and has a plan to develop 15 new hotels in the Kingdom over the next five years. The company opened three new hotels there this year: Sofitel Al Khobar The Corniche; Mercure Al Khobar and Novotel Damman Business Park.
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Nov 24, 2010 , Lebanon
I would be interested to know more about that Qawasmeh. Our company is in the hospitality business & we are planing to expand to KSA. I would appreciate if you contact me on my email address: amer@olivermaki.com . Amer
Sep 19, 2010 , Jordan
Yes , you're completely right , its one of the major obstacles , but the Hospitality companies can find their manpower internally if there are such barriers , and there is many of hospitality professionals able to move to chain companies , Regards , Moh'd Qawasmeh HR Consultant Jordanian Citiz...