The tourism sector is responsible for creating an estimated 1.8 million jobs across Canada and employs a high number of Canadian youth, Indigenous people and immigrants.

But there’s a chronic labour shortage in Canada’s tourism sector, and TIAC is working with the Federal Government to address the problem.

TIAC has advocated for permanent solutions to address labour supply gaps and for support for workforce development programs.

The government of Canada’s new immigration targets for 2018 to 2020 will assist in filling a portion of the projected shortfall in available labour for tourism and hospitality.

While these targets could fill nearly 85,000 of the projected 145,469 jobs shortfall between 2018 and 2035, nearly 60,000 jobs are projected to go unfilled.

In June 2018, the IRCC and Minister of Tourism announced a three-year pilot project with Tourism HR Canada that will connect newcomers with jobs in the hotel industry.

But there’s still more to be done. As part of our recent 2019 pre-budget submission, we made some recommendations to address this issue.

The government needs to use industry labour needs as the main determiner for workers and provide access to all immigration streams to fill that demand, regardless of skill level. This includes permanent immigration and temporary labour solutions that meet the skills needs of the sector and regional labour markets.

We also recommend the government invest in and prioritize tourism jobs in skills & capacity building programs to promote tourism as a viable career option to under-represented groups like Indigenous youth and people with disabilities.

Labour is one of TIAC’s key priorities, and we continue to closely monitor updates on these recommendations. Stay tuned!