Revenues from British Columbia’s tourism industry are likely to double over the next decade, but the sector will have to adopt new strategies to attract and retain workers if it wants to avert a looming shortage of skilled people that could severely hobble growth.
That was the overall message at the tourism session of the mid-June BC Business Council conference Addressing Skills Shortages: 2005. Arlene Keis, CEO of go2, told industry, education, labour, and government representatives that BC’s 18,000 tourism businesses directly or indirectly employ over 266,000 people, generate nearly $10 billion in annual revenues and pay $1 billion in provincial taxes each year. She said both revenue and taxes will double by 2015, but only if the industry can find another 84,000 workers—mostly cooks, chefs, and managers for both food and beverage and accommodation—between now and then.
Keis pointed out 75 per cent of new employees do not have formal tourism training (with the exception of cooks, chefs and outdoor guides). Although there are many training programs available, about half of those who graduate don’t go into tourism. She said to improve the situation, the industry needs to focus on recruitment, retention, and education and training.
Gordon Johnston, BC Regional Vice President and General Manager for Delta Hotels, said the company’s turnover is less than half the industry average and its Employee Opinion Survey scores have been the highest in the industry for the past three years. But he said the company still faces recruitment challenges and to deal with them it has:
- Created an empowerment culture and inclusive approach to decision making
- Offered competitive compensation packages including benefits and career development opportunities
- Instituted regular health and wellness checkups, particularly for those employees (housekeepers, etc.) doing physical work
- Put strong onus on its managers to maintain the desired corporate culture
James Terry, Executive Vice President and COO of Armstrong Hospitality Group, which runs train and bus lines in Canada and the US, has adopted strategies to retain workers. It keeps close tabs on industry working conditions and compensation packages, tries to hire for the future, makes sure it gets the right people for the right job, has begun looking to foreign workers to meet its needs, and, noting the generally aging workforce, has implemented a program to develop leadership talent.
Stephen Pearce, Vice President of Leisure Travel and Destination Management for Tourism Vancouver, warned that even though the 2010 Winter Olympics will provide a huge industry boost, there will be a lull in the immediate aftermath and said employers will have to plan what they will do with their many new recruits during this period.
He also pointed out the market is changing, with Asia presenting the largest opportunities, but others coming from the increasingly nomadic nature of work, the growing importance of single female and multigenerational (grandparents with grand children) travel, and the increasing numbers of Baby Boomers likely to be active travellers after retirement.
Overall, session attendees heard that to attract youth the industry needs to promote itself as a great opportunity, emphasizing it’s possible to have fun while serving other people and there are excellent opportunities for motivated to move up fast and make very good money.