The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) has succeeded in having ‘Travel Consultants’ added to the Federal Government Skills Priority List.
This means that employer incentive support under the apprenticeship program will now cover traineeships in Certificate III Travel all the way through to the advanced diploma of tourism and travel management.
AFTA’s National Taskforce for Skills and Careers has been actively lobbying for the changes given the chronic workforce shortages holding back full recovery of the sector.
The Taskforce has developed significant policy documents and met with the minister for immigration and minister for skills last year to ensure the needs of travel agents were understood by the responsible ministers.
“We have been working very closely with the minister for skills and training, the Hon. Brendan O’Connor, the minister for trade and tourism, Senator the Hon. Don Farrell and the minister for immigration, the Hon Andrew Giles and the relevant departments and very much appreciate their support in getting the important role of travel professionals acknowledged,” AFTA CEO Dean Long said.
“We look forward to continuing to drive change on behalf of our members and Travel given the ongoing massive challenge faced across the board as a result of the chronic workforce and skills shortages.
“Many of our National Taskforce Members who have helped us achieve this win have already highlighted the importance of ensuring alignment across the country for funding and this will be firmly in our sights.”
AFTA will also be writing to State and Territory leaders to ensure these courses have funding allocated as travel agents seek to rebuild the workforce.
The updated list is available here.
The guidelines are available here.
Featured Image: Travel Agent handing over ticket (iStock/ronstik)
