August 30, 2022 | By Bronwen Largier
New federal tourism minister Don Farrell is hosting a Tourism Jobs Summit in Canberra today to gather insights from industry ahead of the Labor Government’s whole-of-economy Jobs and Skills Summit which takes place on Thursday and Friday.
Nearly 100 representatives from tourism industry associations, businesses, academia and unions are meeting with the minister to discuss the workforce challenges facing the visitor economy as it gears back up out of pandemic border closures and lockdowns.
“The visitor economy, from hospitality to tourism businesses, is still facing significant worker and skills shortages – exacerbated by the pandemic and inaction of the former government – and this is constraining recovery,” said Farrell ahead of the summit.
“I am looking forward to hearing directly from industry experts and leaders on how we can build a sustainable, skilled workforce for tourism businesses.
“This includes everything from tackling structural issues within the tourism sector, to how we can attract more people to consider a career in tourism and building our skilled workforce,” said Farrell.
“Australia has some of the most unique and in-demand experiences anywhere in the world. I am committed to doing everything I can to help our tourism industry recover and return to the economic powerhouse we know it to be.”
Insights gleaned from today’s summit will be taken to the wider summit later in the week as well as feeding into an employment white paper and Australia’s long term visitor economy strategy, THRIVE 2030.