In a conversation with a travel recruitment expert this week, a contradiction about the industry’s talent shortage became disturbingly clear.
Most people working in the sector agree that there are not enough experienced candidates out there, at the same time, the industry has a tendency to respond by channelling their recruitment efforts into hiring people with ‘experience’.
It is, in other words, a shortage that we keep attempting to solve by redistributing the shortage.
If you are an agency owner, for example, with an empty desk and a team already running at capacity, the obvious imperative is to chase someone who knows what they’re doing from day one.
That thinking makes perfect sense.
Many travel businesses are pushed to the limit and naturally require staff members who already understand the difference between a DMC and a wholesaler or can explain the benefits and shortcomings of NDC – someone who, if you’ll excuse the subtle sprinkling of travel seasoning here, can pick things up on the fly.
As Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) CEO Dean Long pointed out to me this week, this is not a new phenomenon.
“Experienced travel consultants are in high demand, and there’s real competition for a limited pool of people,” Long said.
“It’s been building for years.”
Part of ATIA’s solution is deceptively simple, stop thinking exclusively about how to fill today’s vacancy and start thinking about how to create tomorrow’s workforce.
“The fix is growing the pipeline,” Long said.
“For many businesses, recruiting someone with existing travel experience is understandably the simplest option, particularly when teams are already stretched.
“But growing the industry’s workforce over the longer term also means creating more pathways for people who are new to travel and supporting businesses to train and develop them.”
However, to undertake that longer-term project, it strikes me that it is also requires the industry to acknowledge an uncomfortable paradox.
We say we want new people, but then we advertise for people with experience.
We say an attitude to learn matters, but then we hire the person who already knows the systems.
We say there is a skills shortage hurting the entire industry, but then we compete with the travel business down the street for the same people.
At some point, the travel sector must confront the reality that the problem is not simply that there aren’t enough fish, it’s that we’re all standing around the same pond.
That recruitment expert I referenced earlier was Monica Godfrey, Cornerstone Learning and Development’s head of strategy and partnerships.
This week the organisation revealed to Travel Daily that it was preparing to launch its New to Travel Industry Foundations Program, a nine-week course available from September that aims to educate people about what they need to know in order to be useful in a travel business from the first day.
Godfrey said the training company had spent a lot of time developing and sense-checking the content with people across the industry prior to its introduction.
“The course is practical, current and deliberately different from a formal qualification,” she explained.
“It covers industry knowledge, language, technology, workflows, products, client skills and professional expectations that employers tell us they want new starters to understand.”
According to Godfrey, one of the major disincentives to hiring someone new to the industry is the time and resources needed to bring that recruit up to code.
“The investment that businesses need to make in terms of having staff sit beside the new recruit and train them can be a very long and tiresome process,” she said.
“So, the issue can be the financial investment needed, when you’re taking one of your staff members off the selling floor and shifting them to a training capacity, it can mean a loss of income and resources – so it becomes less attractive to hire someone new to the industry.
“While a lot of agencies and travel companies are well-meaning and understand the value in recruiting for attitude over experience, unfortunately the reality doesn’t always match up,” she added.
That’s where a lot of Cornerstone’s work over the last year enters the room.
The company is helping to solve the recruitment and talent shortage issues facing the sector from every angle.
Last month, it launched a 12-week training program specifically designed for newcomers wanting to enter the independent travel consultant space in Australia.
The structured micro-credential program was designed to give new consultants the confidence and industry foundations needed to begin building their businesses.
In March, Godfrey spoke to me about Cornerstone’s MyTravelCareer platform, which aims to make it clearer to school-leavers, job-changers and job-seekers why pursuing a career in travel and tourism is a worthy endeavour.
Importantly, Godfrey stressed that Cornerstone’s suite of practical courses is not intended to replace formal qualifications or imply that all training is complete after just nine weeks.
“These courses just get people operational and ready the day they start,” she clarified.
For its part, ATIA is blazing away at the issues of talent shortages and skills deficits through a multi-pronged advocacy approach.
“We represent the industry on Travel Industry Jobs and Skills Council, SaCSA, and that’s how we got the national review of the Certificate III in Travel over the line,” Long explained.
“Three years of our Skills and Workforce Survey built the evidence behind it, and it has helped keep travel recognised on the Occupation Shortage List, priority training list, and the skilled migration list – that’s advocacy making sure the settings are set to build the pipeline of skilled workers for the future,” he added.
ATIA is also looking at practical initiatives that can help expand the talent pipeline.
“The Travel Gap is one example,” Long said.
“It is designed to create another pathway into the travel industry, overcome perceived barriers, and connect new talent with the travel industry.
“We’re only through the first cohort, still testing and refining, and there’s work to be done but it’s an important step forward.
“Young people show up when the pathway is real and paid, and employers see talent they’d never otherwise find.”
Flagged at the Beyond Borders summit in 2024, The Travel Gap initiative offers Gen Zs the chance to work and earn money in the travel sector while exploring Australia at the same time.
Launched in partnership with employment platform My First Job, the broader aims of the program are to counter outdated perceptions about working in the travel sector, attract fresh talent, and create clearer pathways for Gen Zs to follow.
Long concluded his thoughts by telling me that everyone in the sector has a role to play in spreading the word about what a great industry travel is to work in and make it easier for people to see where that career can take them.
But when it comes to selling the virtues of working in travel, I’ll leave the final word to the great Tom Manwaring, former owner of Express Travel Group.
When he was made a life member of ATIA at the NTIAs a few years ago, the words he offered me off stage have stuck with me ever since.
“Travel is part of life for all of us, and no other industry offers people what ours does,” he said.
“That’s why we really want more young people to come through and experience what I have over the last five decades – it has been a phenomenal life and I have seen a lot of the world and made a lot of life-long friends.”
Briefly in other news this week …
The Fijian Government finally came to its senses and revised its 5% tourism services tax so that it did not apply to bookings made before 01 September.
The issue had caused many advisors angst in the lead-up to the levy, with the backflip labelled a “commonsense outcome by ATIA chief Dean Long.
It was also a week of financial updates, with most big travel brands feeling the pinch of Middle East disruptions in the final four months of FY26.
While softer demand and higher jet fuel costs curtailed profits, most companies also demonstrated strong underlying financial health in the months leading up to the war.
The economic fundamentals of brands such as FCTG, Qantas and Helloworld all look robust, so we just need a bit more geopolitical stability and we may see some TTV and profits records tumble.
In other news, Helloworld CEO and MD Andrew Burnes did not mince his words when talking about the management of Webjet, stating in an earnings call this week that he was “not very happy with its performance to date”.
The travel agency giant now owns more than a fifth of the OTA, however, its annual results published yesterday showed that Helloworld was forced to recognise a $34.3 million loss from the revaluation of its shareholding in the business.
The comments also follow a decision earlier in the week by Andrew and Cinzia Burnes to withdraw their nominations as directors of the company.
That’s it from me, folks – have a great weekend.
Adam Bishop
Editor of Travel Daily
adam.bishop@traveldaily.com.au
