The one-day-conference, titled Faces and Places will be held on 12 November at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel. A number of local and foreign speakers will be addressing the conference. A series of workshops, chaired by senior executives in the field of human resources will tackle issues relating to education, licensing, staff motivation and HR management tools.

A recent survey among 12 European countries carried out by the European Foundation (Eurofound) for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions placed Malta in second place after Cyprus as the country where hotels and restaurants can be considered as the largest single activity for any organisation.

The Eurofound report also revealed that Maltese employees produce at a higher rate than the average EU citizen. Yet despite thus hotels seem to have problems recruiting trained staff and retaining them in the industry. The Eurofound survey may have found the reason for this dilemma: in 2001 only 29 per cent of the Maltese workforce said they had any training in 12 months. HCIMA Malta intends to tackle these problems during the third biannual conference which is organised as part of their twentieth anniversary celebrations.

The HCIMA was established in the UK through an amalgamation of two older associations. It is an association of Hospitality, Catering, Travel and Leisure management professionals. The association has now spread to more than 100 countries with 17,000 members world-wide. More information about HCIMA and its biannual conference can be found on www.hciamalta.org.