International travel and hospitality industry recruitment specialist TMS Asia-Pacific has beefed up its China profile with the opening of its first dedicated Hong Kong office. TMS Chief Executive Officer, Gary Marshall said the move was an obvious next step in the company’s development in China following its successful integration into the Shanghai market just 12 months ago.

Mr Marshall, who already has already expressed his interest in establishing a TMS presence in Beijing, Macau and several other Chinese cities, said a Hong Kong operation had always been on the cards for TMS.

“TMS’ arrival in the SAR is timely given the huge demands now being placed on local employers looking to succeed in the war for talent,” he said.

“The shortage of local talent, especially Hong Kong’s substantial bi-lingual candidate pool, has been compounded by the enormous staffing demands now being fuelled by several major events occurring across the region.”

These, he said, included the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the major casino and hotel developments taking place across the Asia region – and particularly in Macau.

“Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore in particular are seen as prime sources of highly-qualified, bi-lingual candidates as well as lower level, highly customer service-oriented staff, many of whom are now being lured to China by attractive remuneration packages. But recruiters are now looking ever further afield to engage qualified staff for their Chinese clients.”

Mr Marshall said one of the obvious benefits for both local employers and candidates when dealing with specialists such as TMS was the value of these companies’ international reach.

TMS has maintained a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region for several years but the last 12 months has seen rapid expansion with newly established operations in the Middle East, the UK and in continental Europe.

“Our international reach means clients can cast a much wider net and have access to candidates in a huge range of markets outside of Hong Kong,” Mr Marshall said.