Exploring human resource challenges in China’s tourism industry

Traditional human resource challenges are productivity-oriented, whereas the current ones are human-oriented, with the ultimate goal of enhancing organisational productivity. The most recent human resource challenges generally include labour cost and the Generation Y work force, among others. But, the main human resource challenge that the tourism industry in China, at present faces, is labour shortage. In order to comprehensively understand the human resource challenges in the Chinese context, particularly in the southern part of China (i.e. Guangdong province), this study investigates the issues through focus group interviews. The present study also identifies the underlying reasons that lead to these challenges and provides possible solutions to cope with these challenges in the following four aspects: staffing, employee development, compensation, and governance.