TIA sees the tourism workforce as an industry fundamental that we need to get right. Tourism is essentially a people industry meaning our staff are the interface to our visitors and are essential to the quality of the visitor experience. 

Tourism contains a wide spectrum of jobs and occupations, spread right around the country. The workforce is made up of New Zealanders and overseas workers, including both migrants and working holiday travellers that can support the industry over the summer peak and have the dual benefit of also being visitors. 

TIA promotes for tourism businesses to be ‘Employers of Choice’ (TSC Commitment 7). 

Action 9 in Tourism 2050 is Grow the Tourism Workforce that specifies that businesses focus on all aspects of being an attractive employer for its workforce. 

TIA supports a thriving tourism education sector – from schools, to training, to university education at all levels. Work over recent years to establish tourism as a National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) subject has slowed and TIA is actively advocating for this important change to be implemented by Government. Establishing this pipeline of talent into the industry from secondary school education is an important step to put in place. 

TIA recognises the critical importance of vocational education and training systems for tourism given that many of the jobs in the industry are best learned on the job or with targeted training programmes. 

TIA advocates for the current change processes for vocational education to result in the training courses that the industry needs, and for these courses to be available widely around the country where people in tourism work. 

TIA conducts a twice-yearly Workforce and Industry Readiness Survey to track the position of the tourism workforce from the perspective of its members. TIA’s September 2024 survey found that half of respondents were actively recruiting, with the primary recruitment challenge remaining the lack of quality applications.