Tourism has become one of Australia's most important sectors in recent years, overtaking most areas of business to become one of the biggest exports the nation has, alongside the likes of coal.
And this looks set to continue across the course of the next few years, with the latest data from the Australian Tourism Labour Force report commissioned by Austrade and produced by Deloitte Access Economics suggesting that the sector will be creating thousands of jobs across the course of the coming years.
The report stated that within half a decade, Australia will be bringing in so much tourism business that the sector will require a staggering 120,000 new workers. Some 60,000 of these will be skilled.
This comes on top of the news that there is a skills shortage in the market at the moment, with more than 38,000 skilled workers needed in states such as New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
In these states, the report states, some 70 per cent of businesses struggle when it comes to hiring the quality of worker they need to find success. The number of companies in the tourism sector that face problems related to hiring, retention and deficiency of skills is up by 19 per cent in the space of just four years.
“It appears that while the ability for businesses to hire workers has improved, businesses are not finding the skills to operate effectively,” the report said.
“This may be affecting the productivity and competitiveness of the sector.”
The tourism sector has also recently shown a fall in the hiring of overseas workers, who now constitute ten per cent of the work force, which is down from the 13 per cent strength in 2011.
