Professional Certification for the Tourism Workforce: A Lesson from Indonesian Public Policy

Abstract

The Indonesian Government has introduced several policies for professional certification especially for the tourism workforce. There is a need that all employees and prospective employees should be certified to compete in the labour market both nationally and internationally however, the current policies tend to mislead the stakeholders in how to actually achieve and improve the quality of human resources in tourism. This study shows that there are several factors which can impede the professional certification because of lack of coordination, integration and awareness of how to implement the professional certification. This study identifies that the existing policies of professional certification are not effective. A SWOT analysis was used to obtain recommended strategies on the implementation of professional certification in Indonesia. Indeed, there is a need to revise several policies in order to establish better human resource development strategies.

Keywords: Professional Certification, Competency, Indonesian Public Policy, Tourism Workforce