Did you get your pay raise this year?

It seems so as 75% of Asians in the travel and hospitality industry said they received a pay raise in the last 12 months.

This is a 10% increase from last year’s survey.

In what again represents an encouraging sign for employees working in the Asia travel and hospitality sector, 75 per cent of all respondents participating in the 2011 TMS Asia-Pacific Travel and Hospitality Industry Salary Survey indicated they received a pay increase in the last 12 months.

The figure represents a 10.3 per cent increase over the 68 per cent of respondents taking part in the 2010 survey and, according to TMS CEO, Andrew Chan, is a very strong indication that employers are pulling out all the stops to maintain head count as the ‘war for talent’ continues to impact on a sector showing ongoing positive growth.

“The ‘war for talent’ has been heating up in Asia since the start of the year and, as evidenced by the increase in employees receiving pay increases, employers are attempting to retain their good staff with increased remuneration – and it seems to be working,” Mr Chan said.

“Our findings show that in 2011, the majority of respondents receiving a pay rise said they had seen a 1-5 per cent increase at their last review with a further 27 per cent receiving a raise of 6 per cent or more.

“This is in stark contrast to just two years ago when the TMS survey registered a significant number of pay cuts which we can readily attribute to the impact the GFC was having at that time.”

However, he said, while the 2011 figures pointed towards an upturn in sector employees’ monetary fortunes, actual career progression remained out of kilter in the upbeat environment.

While the importance of salary increases continued to dominate, Mr Chan said the importance of career development on employee satisfaction, as in recent surveys, remains very high on the agenda.

A total of 72 per cent of all respondents stated that career progression was either ‘extremely important’ or ‘very important’, compared to 71 per cent in 2010 with just 3 per cent saying career progression was unimportant.

“This would indicate most employees appear reasonably satisfied with their advancement prospects in general however it should be noted that only 39 per cent of respondents in 2011 rated their progression chances as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’.

Mr Chan said this factor should be sounding alarm bells for employers given that employees in this post-GFC environment are now seeing a greater number of opportunities than ever before, both within the tourism sector and outside from competing sectors offering both higher salaries and stronger career path opportunities.

“We have to be mindful that while the Asia travel and tourism sector appears to have embraced the global economic recovery, as indicated by the lift in salary increases, the ‘war for talent’ continues unabated and employers face an uphill battle in retaining staff.

“This means employers need to be very much on their toes if they are to maintain headcount – and fill newly emerging job roles – and if they are to remain competitive in the employment stakes in this current environment.”

Launched in late August, the survey this year attracted close on 900 respondents from more than 13 countries across the Asia region.

These range from company CEOs, managing directors and general managers through to middle management and front line consultants.

The largest proportion of respondents (61 per cent) was based in Singapore with China (15 per cent), Malaysia (7 per cent), India (5 per cent) and Thailand (5 per cent) also providing strong samples.

Reinforcing their traditional positions as the region’s key business hubs, Hong Kong and Singapore recorded the highest average salaries - at USD92,445 and USD80,479, respectively.

And reflecting China’s ongoing economic surge, average salaries in mainland China came in as the region’s third highest at USD59,505 followed by Thailand at USD51,044.

Mr Chan said that it was interesting to note that India’s economic boom has not appeared to have translated into higher salaries for the country’s workforce with the country posting the survey’s second lowest average salary (USD29,460).

This, he said, was slightly less than Malaysia (USD30,151), but higher than Indonesia (USD28,425), which propped up the list.

“This survey has as in previous years again provided us with an unique statistical view of the sector’s labour market,” Mr Chan said.