What are the main human resources challenges facing the Canadian tourism sector?
A – The pool of youth to draw from is shrinking. This is a key concern for our sector, because tourism has traditionally been dominated by a younger workforce. In Canada overall, 34.9% workers are 34 years of age or younger whereas in tourism, 51.3% fall into this category. Turnover within the sector is an ongoing challenge. Average turnover rates in the Canadian workforce range from 20.1% – 22.9% in the last two census periods versus 32.0% – 39.6% for the tourism sector during the same periods. As an industry, we need to look for ways to decrease this turnover rate, which includes investing in employees through training, flexible work arrangements and on-the-job incentives or “perks”. At the same time, as the supply side of our industry (its workforce) is decreasing, the demand side is increasing. Research conducted by the Council estimates that well over 161,309 new jobs will be created in the Canadian tourism sector by the year 2015. Filling these positions will require a focus on a
