The continued staffing challenges facing the travel industry, with a current shortage of workers despite high demand for travel, was emphatically addressed by the So, you want to work in Travel? panel on Day 2 of Travel DAZE.
Moderator Hoda Alzubaidi, general manager and publisher of Travel Weekly, was joined on stage by Yvette Thompson, general manager –
Sales & Marketing ANZ at Intrepid Travel and Lisa Pile, vice president, Sales & General Manager, Asia Pacific, Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
Pile highlighted that pre-COVID, Australia had 737,000 travel employees, which now stands at 723,000, but there is a projected need for more tnan 2 million new jobs in the next few years across all levels of travel employment. Both speakers emphasised the need to change the narrative about travel careers, highlighting transferable skills, diversity, and flexible work conditions. They suggested internships, apprenticeships, and storytelling to attract talent across all age groups and backgrounds.
“We’ve always relied on mostly international or temporary workers, because I don’t think we’ve ever told the story enough that there are roles within travel that are actual careers,” Pile said.
“If I look at the Australian hotel business, as I was a previously a hotelier, there are 5600 new hotel rooms coming online in the next couple of years. Globally, there are two and a half million new hotel rooms coming online. And if I look at my current industry, cruising, there’s 56 new ships coming online in the next couple of years, which equates to 127,000 new berths.”
“I think we haven’t told the narrative well enough. I mean, if I put my hotelier hat on when I was working internationally. There’s doormen in London who’ve been with those magnificent hotels for 40-45, years that earn more than the managing director. There’s concierge who earn more than general managers. There’s career maitre’ds, career waiters and waitresses.
“I feel that in this country, we’ve only ever solved those roles as part time roles, roles you do between university we haven’t valued them.”
In addition, she said, many current advisors selling travel undervalue their role but she said it is a job that literally can open up a whole new world for anyone, despite age, ethnicity or sex.
“It’s an incredible role. It’s an incredible career that you can turn into a lifestyle career,” she said.
When Thompson is looking to employ, she says anyone coming to the travel industry is there because they love travel and that has to be No.1.
“I’ve never met anyone in travel who doesn’t love it itself. The real big piece I see with particularly with the youth, is the best operators. They’re looking for companies that really align with their values,” she said adding that pathway is offered through its Intrepid Foundation.
While Intrepid Travel, with 35 offices globally, is fully staffed it is still looking at industry-wide growth.
“We’re fully staffed at the moment, and we’re probably in a really lucky position that when we are hiring. We’re actually probably inundated with applications at the moment, and I think that’s a lot to do with the growth trajectory that we’ve had over, particularly the last couple of years,” Thompson said.
But with more travel, more hotels, more cruise ships, they still need to tract employees, and that includes offer roles with flexibility.
“Coming out of COVID, we’ve really worked in our flexible conditions,” she said. “We have anchor days of two days a week in the office, three days you can work from anywhere. We have four weeks a year where you can work from any of our offices around the world. So that’s, as I said, 35 and growing.
When development courses within a business are offered, and mentoring tales place and people can see themselves developing with a brand they can align with, “that’s when people go, ‘Yep, this is the business for me’,” Thompson said.
“I do really think there is a great opportunity for networking and for more conversations like this (at Travel DAZE), and to cross-pollinate across different businesses and to also attract people into the industry,” she said, and it isn’t just young people.
“Rob, who’s in my team, and in her 60s, and her daughter keeps saying to her, ‘When are you going to retire?’. She’s like, ‘Why would I retire?’
“She’s just got back from Saudi Arabia last week, she’s taking her grandson over to Africa next month. She’s working from New Zealand this week, she’s having grand old time, but she’s getting the results at the same time.”
