B.C.'s tourism sector is facing an acute shortage of skilled workers heading towards the 2010 Winter Olympics, say industry leaders.
During a town hall forum at the 2005 Tourism Industry Conference in Vancouver last week, tourism company operators heard that B.C. will need 85,000 more trained workers by 2010.
Arlene Keis, CEO of go2, a tourism human-resources agency, said the industry has a "huge negative image" when it comes to recruiting employees, contending tourism trails other industries in the pre-Olympic training race. She said tourism company operators must consider how they look at - and value - potential employees.
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| Mary Mahon Jones |
Company operators called on each other to find a way to help high schools, colleges and universities train young people for careers in tourism. go2 will soon unveil a marketing program called Movin' On Up, which aims to speak to youths in their language.
"It's not a one-stop solution," one company operator told the audience. "There are many, many solutions needed to solve this problem - but it's a pressing problem."
Mary Mahon Jones, CEO of the Council of Tourism Associations of BC (COTA), which hosted the conference, told Business Edge that most of the workers needed are at the supervisory and management level.
"As we go forward towards the Olympics, the need increases substantially," Mahon Jones said after the forum concluded. "The Baby Boomers are now entering the phase of their lives where they're now becoming more leisure-oriented and the question is: Are we actually going to have enough people in the tourism industry to provide services that they're going to need in the future?" Mahon Jones is optimistic the industry will have enough employees for the Games. The industry launched a tourism human-resources strategy two years ago, resulting in the creation of go2.
She said that move has built the momentum developing now to find and educate young people for tourism-related careers.go2 will focus on identifying the types of positions and skills needed and develop education programs related to them.
The British Columbia Institute of Technology and Vancouver Community College are collaborating with each other and go2 on hospitality and tourism programs.
"People look on the tourism industry as something that isn't seen as a career," said Mahon Jones. "It's seen as someplace where you stop for a while and then you go on. People are beginning to realize that tourism is a really great career. There's a lot of people now that are working in the tourism industry (and) once they get into it, they decide that they're actually going to stay - they really love it."
The initial negative impression stems from low pay levels in the hospitality sector, but those positions are just entry-level. People don't realize the opportunity for higher-paying positions further up the corporate ladder.
"We have lots of higher wages, but the average is skewed down because we have such a huge volume in the hospitality area," said Mahon Jones.
The industry is trying to install the cultures of value and training so that employers view employees as assets. Mahon said Earl's restaurants and the Empress Hotel in Victoria, which have extensive training programs, are setting the standard for everyone else.
The employee shortage was just one of many issues addressed during the town hall session at Vancouver's Bayshore Hotel, as the industry continues to recover from the effects of SARS, forest fires, 9/11 and other crises. COTA is also developing a code of ethics for tourism operators and a sustainability plan designed to protect the environment and ensure social and economic stability.
Mahon Jones said COTA members also want to reduce tourism's "environmental footprint" and serve as stewards of the land. "Our (industry's) greatest asset is our natural environment," she said.
One company operator told the town hall that COTA needs a sustainability agenda to find out who's doing what to protect the environment, set standards and work with conservation groups ahead of time to ensure that they are not setting the agenda.
Another operator, who considers the preservation of salmon vital to tourism, said the industry must sign agreements with First Nations and other groups who have an interest in protecting the environment.
Operators are also calling for upgrades to Highway 1 in the Interior and other roads that will connect the Interior and Fraser Canyon to the rest of the province.
"Our biggest challenge in the Fraser Canyon between Hope and Kamloops is the marketing and advertising of Highway 1," said Brian McKinney, owner of the Hell's Gate tram - a tourist spot which allows guests to ride up to a high spot in the canyon.
In this case, Highway 1 represents an older stretch of highway that has seen tourist traffic decline considerably since the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5), which links Hope to the Interior and Okanagan Valley, was completed in the mid-1980s.
Steve Smith, general manager of Prince Rupert's Crest Hotel, called for a daily ferry run up the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and Rupert.
"Ferries - that's our highways," said Smith, who encouraged conference-goers to sing the ditty, "One ship a day, that's the minimum!" COTA executives also called for cuts in provincial taxes related to tourism, more road signs that identify tourism destinations and amendments to the Motor Carrier Act to allow small transportation service companies to pick up passengers at bed-and-breakfasts, condos and other lodgings that are not hotels.
Mahon Jones said the town hall forum will help the industry plan and grow over the next five to 10 years. "We're not talking about unbridled growth. That's one of the things that really came off. We're really talking about sustainability and those three pillars - environmental, economic and social."
Web watch: www.go2hr.ca (Monte Stewart be reached at www.businessedge.ca)
