Province's $1.5-billion tourism industry faces shortage of workers

New Brunswick's tourism industry is looking to immigrants and older people to alleviate worker shortages it suffered during the summer.

Tourism operators are warning they don't have enough people to work in an industry worth more than $1.5 billion to the province.

David Campbell, the president of Jupia Consultants Inc., a firm hired to research the worker shortage, told Information Morning Moncton the inability to fill tourism jobs is becoming a "real challenge."

"We saw it last summer with the industry, and a lot of segments of the industry reported a real challenge trying to hire workers for the full season," said Campbell, whose company did the study for the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick.

"It's becoming a real issue and probably a barrier to the growth of the industry moving forward if it can't be solved."

Hurting customers

Campbell said the shortage of workers means those employed in the industry are having to do more work. This can lead to a drop in the quality of service, which can lead to angry customers.

"If a visitor has a bad experience, you know, in a hotel or a restaurant or a tourism operation, you know that might dissuade them from coming back," said Campbell.

"In order to provide a good quality service we have to have the workers."

Campbell said the owners of tourism businesses are also having to work harder because they can't find New Brunswickers willing to work in the low-income, labour-intensive industry.

"We're hearing from the industry that in the upcoming season and moving forward they're actually going to have to curtail their hours or even even shut down at times if they can't find workers," he said.

Immigration key

Campbell said the industry is a victim of demographics. The province has an aging population and there are fewer students to work summer jobs.

He said immigration needs to be increased to satisfy the demands of the industry, but this approach may not work either.

The government wants newcomers to work full time, and tourism industry jobs are usually temporary, he said.

Campbell said increasing foreign students in the province might help.

"One of my favourite potential cohorts of workers is attract more international students into the college, university system and then encourage them to work in tourism jobs in the summer," Campbell said.

"People that are going to university, they're good [targets] to work in the sector for summer jobs … encourage them to work in the sector during the summer when they're in school and then try to find career paths after they graduate."

Older workers

Workers 55 years and older are another demographic the industry could target, Campbell said.

The province has one of the lowest employment rates in the country for workers 55 and older and they may be receptive to seasonal employment.

"There might be people that don't want to work year round, but maybe they would like to work in a job for four or five months," said Campbell.

He said there could be incentives for older New Brunswickers to work in the industry.

"We know that the 55-plus like health benefits, for example," said Campbell.

"Is there an opportunity to offer these these individuals a health insurance package in addition to their employment?"

Campbell's group is looking for feedback from the industry.

Operators can fill out an online survey at the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick's website.