ILO: Migrant workers are essential for the international hotel industry

The ILO’s hotel, catering and tourism expert Wolfgang Weinz stressed this point after the publishing of the report titled “Migrant workers in the international hotel industry” (available on line in English here)

Although is impossible to say how many migrant workers are employed in the hotel industry, in many developed economies more and more migrant workers will be hired in hotels, with a huge presence of women.

This industry is the most rapidly expanding and is labour intensive; it requires a lot of staff. Nevertheless migrant workers’ wages are too often poor as they are employed in low-skill positions and are subjected to harsh working conditions with long shifts and work during weekends and holidays; often on a temporary or precarious basis. All this leads migrant workers to be particularly vulnerable in employment but also in terms of working conditions and particularly their health and safety.