Tourism operators support Aus guest worker programme
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The Australian government is considering its first guest worker scheme to support the tourism industry. Members of the travel trade have complained that high wages in the mining sector are creating a labour shortage in the hospitality industry.
Under the proposed scheme, foreign workers will be allowed to enter Australia for a specific job or employment in a designated industry. They would receive Australian pay and conditions, but would have to leave the country after a set period. While the Tourism Ministry mulls the idea, the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme, which was initially adopted in the horticulture industry, has been expanded to tourism operators in Broome.
Chief Executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum, John Lee, embraced the move, but he says the scheme needs to be expanded further to North Queensland with urgent consideration given to other regional areas. “This is a big issue for tourism operators across Australia, but especially in regional areas where the pool of talent is smaller,” said Lee.
Tourism players can’t compete with the lure of high wages in the mining industry and with recent ‘fly in – fly out’ recruitment measures, the mines are now drawing workers from regional centres and thus further depleting available labour.
Only last week, TTF warned of a ‘tourism deficit’ in Australia, with outbound travel growth far exceeding inbound. Lee attributes this to the standard of customer service in the country which is widely perceived as inferior to other foreign destinations.
“Finding service-oriented staff is not easy at the best of times and finding staff to deliver great customer service is even harder, and with the current labour squeeze, that task is even more difficult,” Lee said.
“Australia cannot compete on price with other destinations in our region, so providing top quality customer service must be part of our tourism offering. Expanding this pilot scheme to include more destinations than just Broome will help us do that.”
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