Bahrainisation rates in the hospitality sector have dropped to 16 per cent from 33 per cent in 2001, said industry experts.

Hospitality sector training qualitative council head Ibrahim Al Kooheji and executive director Ali Sulaibeekh said young Bahrainis were reluctant to work in hotels, which prompted professionals to recruit expatriates for new projects.

They were speaking at a meeting held at Gulf Hotel Convention Centre yesterday (June 20), reported the Gulf Daily News.

The forum brought together hundreds of officials and professionals from the hospitality sector in the kingdom.

Six strategies were announced to encourage Bahrainis to work in hotels. They included pay rise, raising the minimum wage to BD300, training 364 job seekers to join the sector, calling on hospitality graduates to work in hotels' maintenance divisions and identifying and publicising job vacancies for Bahrainis, reports our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej. – TradeArabia News Service