The Demographics Group considers Australian tourism industry needs to find solutions for rebuilding workforce

Director and co-founder of the preeminent social data analytics advisory service, The Demographics Group, Simon Kuestenmacher will be presenting his views on the way forward to rebuild the tourism industry workforce as keynote presenter at Australian Tourism Export Council’s (ATEC) annual Meeting Place conference in Cairns this week.

More than 450 Australian tourism operators and international buyers are in Cairns this week for the ATEC annual Meeting Place conference, where the nation’s tourism operators will contract travel agents to promote and sell holidays overseas.

According to Kuestenmacher, the tourism industry must take the lead in rebuilding its workforce by finding its own solutions to the country’s housing crisis, providing affordable accommodation options along with compelling reasons for employees to stay. 

With workforce challenges across the economy, tourism businesses have to think creatively in looking for ways to attract and keep their workforce and that means investing in solutions to the biggest issue which is housing affordability for lower income workers. 

Australia’s export tourism industry has a strong future with a steady stream of demand from international visitors over the next 50 years, however Kuestenmacher says the critical issue is how operators make the most of this growth.

“How do you offer a service to meet this demand without workers? That's the biggest issue for the tourism industry,” Kuestenmacher said. 

“Many people who work in the industry - hospitality workers, tour guides, cleaning staff - are overwhelmingly young and often temporary workers and right now tourism businesses are having a tough battle attracting them particularly as these destinations are also the paradise-like hotspots which, since COVID, have become quite expensive to live in. 

“The reality is that workers and housing affordability are interconnected and the free market is simply not interested in providing low-income housing at scale leaving employers with the option to look at providing that housing themselves or face a continuing struggle to find staff. 

“While it is an additional burden for business and takes a lot of effort, it's building staff accommodation is not a bad investment and it’s one tourism regions and tourism businesses should band together to undertake in a ‘Titans of Industry’ approach. 

Kuestenmacher said Australia currently has a migrant skills shortage of more than 270,000 workers along with the added pressures of retiring baby boomers and millennial's having babies ‘at scale’ during COVID. 

Over the coming decades Australian tourism exporters will benefit from a growing middle class looking for travel experiences, particularly younger people from markets such as India as well as visiting friends and family of new migrants. 

“India has a huge number of young people and there is a great deal of growth left in the middle-class population and these visitors will be looking for the kind of holiday proposition we have to offer – we are super safe, convenient, we are a high-tech destination where everything tends to work and there are few things to cause a nuisance to your experience. 

“And Australian tourism operators can quit worrying about any post covid hangover, the world has moved on and Australia, once again, offers an interesting and enticing brand of outdoor adventure, nature and lifestyle. 

“Right now the challenge is to ensure we can deliver against the proposition and if you solve the housing issue you solve the industry’s biggest challenge so providing housing is a good proposition for the tourism industry.” 

In 2017 Kuestenmacher, with Bernard Salt, co-founded The Demographics Group. The group provides specialist advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business. 

ATEC Managing Director Peter Shelley said Meeting Place was a major business-to-business event on the export tourism industry calendar featuring more than 4500 face-to-face meetings.

“It is hugely important that Australian tourism products get back to their markets and put the message out that they are eagerly awaiting the arrival of international visitors,” Shelley said.

“As the industry reboots, we are facing many challenges and obstacles from aviation capacity to workforce shortages and global factors like the war in Ukraine, so it's vital that tourism businesses get back out there and get noticed.

“As we move forward post-Covid, the industry needs to engage as ‘Team Australia’ to re-establish ourselves as a highly desirable destination and be competitive against the rest of the world for the global tourism dollar.”

Local State Member for Cairns and Assistant Tourism Minister Michael Healy notes “with domestic tourism bouncing back, hosting this year’s Meeting Place in Cairns is critically important to jobs and rebuilding Queensland’s international visitor economy.

“The ATEC Meeting Place brings immediate benefits to Cairns with 450 holiday buyers and sellers generating 1,000 visitor nights and $1.5 million for tourism in the Tropical North.

“We’re keen to see our inbound international travel partners experiencing Cairns’ iconic visitor attractions and great tropical Queensland lifestyle for themselves.

“That first-hand knowledge of our world-class visitor and amazing cultural experiences is unbeatable.

“We know when international buyers experience our wonderful lifestyle and attractions, they’ll recommend them again and again to overseas agents and holidaymakers.

“Attracting overseas visitors has always been a highly competitive business, even more so since the global pandemic.

QLD Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said growing international visitor numbers was a priority for the QLD Government’s Towards Tourism 2032 strategy.

Before the pandemic, international tourism contributed more than $6 billion a year to the Queensland visitor economy.