There’s always a lot going on at Tourism HR Canada as the organization has coordinated a wide range of initiatives to foster the development of a skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce for more than 30 years. Right now, Heather Elder, Director of Marketing, Tourism HR Canada, observed: “We’re very interested to see what summer brings. Our projections show there could be around 2.4 million working in tourism during the peak months. And for 2024 as a whole, we are expecting to see a continued climb in employment, but also an increasing demand for tourism products and services. Talent attraction and retention are going to stay a headline item for some time.
As of March, we have nearly reached our pre-pandemic number in the labour force: 99% of the same month in 2019. But as a large, diverse sector that employs over 2 million people, that 1% translates into 21,400 fewer workers…and it’s worth remembering that we were struggling to attract talent back in 2019, as well, so we need to exceed that number to close the labour gap.
We’re very interested to see what summer brings. Our projections show there could be around 2.4 million working in tourism during the peak months. And for 2024 as a whole, we are expecting to see a continued climb in employment, but also an increasing demand for tourism products and services. Talent attraction and retention are going to stay a headline item for some time.
Yes, always lots on the go here. An update to one of our key reports is coming out soon; we worked with the Conference Board of Canada to look at labour supply and demand for tourism all the way to 2040. The forecast is a call to action: nearly 150,900 job vacancies in tourism by then, double the 2019 shortfall. But these are only predictions based on the current landscape. The report features recommendations on strategies and policies that could narrow this gap.
We’re also analyzing the results of a couple recent surveys and focus groups, one series around employers’ disability inclusion awareness and practices, and the other around employees’ perspectives and experiences around mental health and wellbeing in tourism workplaces. We’ll share highlights, plus this invaluable feedback will help with our developing resources on these important topics.
Finally, we’ve just published a report produced with Skift Advisory, which looks at travellers’ thoughts and priorities when it comes to service standards — it features interesting insights for business owners around how these impact travel decisions, with implications on customer service training for staff.
We are a pan-Canadian not-for-profit with a mandate aimed at building a world-leading tourism workforce. For over 30 years, we’ve coordinated a wide range of initiatives to foster the development of a skilled, diverse, and inclusive workforce. We respond to various labour market issues and invest in programs to support employers, the workforce, job seekers, governments, education, and industry associations. This ranges from training to small business tools to career awareness to research to connecting talent with employers—the list goes on!
We’re excited to share this new platform: the official launch is June 3. Emerit is our training and certification brand, and we’ve been offering this programming for nearly 30 years — from print to desktop to mobile. We have a suite of self-directed online learning to help those in the industry and those looking to join the industry develop key employability, occupation-specific, and supervisory skills.
We also offer professional certification programs that assess and recognize the skills and experience of tourism professionals at a national level. Nearly 20,000 people have achieved a credential through Emerit.
This new platform will offer more flexibility, with micro-courses and micro-exam options, and more accessibility.
Everything is based on industry-validated National Occupational Standards, which can also be accessed on the platform. Tourism professionals from across Canada feed into each of these products to ensure they reflect the latest workplace realities. It’s a trusted program that has helped many advance their careers, and we’re looking forward to this next iteration.
Propel grows every year, and we’re thrilled to see how the program is connecting students with paid, hands-on learning experiences and employers with the early talent they need.
The program offers tourism (including travel services and hospitality) employers wage subsidies to hire a post-secondary student who’s looking for a work-integrated learning placement as part of their studies—like co-ops and internships. And it’s not limited to travel and tourism programs—students could be in business admin, marketing, IT, or design.
Anyone interested in learning more is welcome to join one of our monthly webinars — the team gives an overview of what work-integrated learning is, the qualification criteria, and how to apply. The latest link is available at PropelCareers.ca. This is such an important program to encourage students to explore travel and tourism opportunities, and we’re grateful to receive another year of government funding to make it happen.
We have indeed, and our website offers free access to our latest compensation study, an interactive dashboard, a report with key insights from tourism operators, and a suite of infographics/worksheets to inspire fresh takes on compensation.
While tourism does have lower-paying jobs, there is ample opportunity to progress to a well-paid, meaningful career. We also looked at different perks and benefits that round out a compensation package, including gratuities. There was a wide range on offer, and it’s an area where we encourage employers to get creative and employees to ask around to find their perfect fit. While hybrid work may appeal to some, others might prefer a robust health plan, RRSP matching, a transit pass, or freebies at partnering businesses.
Yes, we have a set of seven downloadable resources to help employers explore what’s available if they’re looking at hiring international talent. There’s much more than the temporary foreign worker program, including the International Mobility Program, International Experience Canada, and Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot.
These guides give a concise overview of the different streams, the steps to take, and where to go to start the process. While these programs can seem intimidating, there is lots of help available and they offer a great way to fill roles when the local labour pool is overextended.
This is a robust project to increase disability inclusion in the tourism workforce. About one in four Canadians identifies as having a disability, and we want to support employers in offering what we call IDEAL workplaces: inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible, and leading.
We’re developing a wealth of resources: online learning, workshops, webinars, downloadable toolkits, accreditation, mentorship, and a referral program. These will be released over the coming two years.
We’re also showcasing how tourism employment can be a great fit for individuals with disabilities, including a series of videos sharing the stories of individuals from across Canada.
Registration is open for our first webinar, coming May 29 as part of National AccessAbility Week, and co-hosted with the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW). The link is on BelongTourism.ca.
This is another of our longstanding programs that has just been refreshed, thanks to federal funding. The program offers a suite of materials for high school teachers looking to introduce travel and tourism to students: lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and more.
It’s very flexible, allowing teachers to adapt the materials to fit their curriculum. Students completing certain criteria can achieve up to three certificates. We also provide access to our Emerit online learning and to resources and activities offered by the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership — including a research competition whose winners attend an international conference. Last year’s event was in Dubai, and this year’s might be in Spain!
We’re continuing to see lots of engagement, and are always updating our resource hub and links to job boards and post-secondary programs. We love sharing stories of people who’ve made tourism their career — the Belong project will be the next series we produce. And there are amazing attraction and retention resources for employers on the site, too: we’re looking at adding more Compensation Culture worksheets and an update to our “Now Hiring” HR guide, and lots of the Belong resources will be added here as they become available.
Perhaps how to keep informed on all our activities? There’s so much happening. We send out a regular e-newsletter, Tourism HR Insider, with updates, events, advice, opportunities to get involved, and what our partners are up to. And, of course, our social media channels offer all of this plus video content and bite-sized industry insights.
