Tourism workforce shortfall

TOURISM Australia managing director John O’Sullivan yesterday confirmed the sector is well on track to achieving several of its Tourism 2020 goals - but is falling short when it comes to issues around industry staffing, training and development.

Speaking at a business lunch convened by the Australia- Israel Chamber of Commerce, O’Sullivan confirmed overnight visitor expenditure is currently tracking towards $127b-$135b annually - well towards the upper end of the $115b-$140b target set out in the 2020 vision.

Other parts of the strategy included boosting CBD hotel stock by 10,000-20,000 rooms, lifting aviation capacity by 40-50% and the creation of 150,000 new jobs.

While there is significant hotel development under way, and aviation targets have already been met thanks particularly to the huge surge in new entrants from China, O’Sullivan said there was a way to go in terms of jobs.

“A potential weak spot for the strategy is around skills and labour...that’s one of the issues for the industry, we are probably only about 30% of the way there,” he confessed.

MEANWHILE also speaking at the event was Star Entertainment Group ceo Matt Bekier, who detailed the ongoing evolution of the casino group’s offering.

“Ten years ago we had more than 95% of revenues that came out of gaming,” he said.

Now, particularly with the growth of the inbound sector the Star is repositioning to target international visitors by offering one-stop tourism attractions.

“For the Asian customer, an integrated resort where you have all these amenities in one location, conveniently presented and safe, that’s very attractive,” he said, with about a quarter of the 1.1 million visitors from China last year visiting a Star property.