Travel and Tourism Statement of Priorities

In the second half of 2010, the Travel and Tourism industry came together to undertake a series of forums and consultations to identify the key issues facing the sector in workforce development.

The consultations included a forum for industry leaders to discuss critical issues and possible responses concerning workforce development in the travel and tourism sectors. This forum was hosted by the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA), the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) and Service Skills Australia (SSA).

The forum identified 3 critical areas for the industry:

• Industry must understand and embrace the needs of their workforce through better communication, and the development of appropriate and targeted strategies to attract and retain workforce
• continual improvements in training and education need to be on par with developments of the industry and there needs to be further integration of industry in the training/education process
• need to develop a greater value proposition to better attract workers to the sector.

An issues paper - Travel and Tourism Workforce Development Issues Paper - was developed which posed for feedback a series of priorities and issues around 3 critical issues. Feedback was gathered via face to face forums with RTOs and an online discussion forum.

Download the Travel and Tourism Workforce Development Issues Paper

The discussion process identified three priority areas which AFTA, ATEC and SSA will work with industry and government to implement.  The priorities are a framework for skills and workforce development over the next 3 years and are underpinned by a suite of actions - some of which will be responded to in the next 12 months. For example, Service Skills Australia are already conducting some work on these priorities via the training package review.

Download the Travel and Tourism Workforce Development Statement of Priorities

Find out more about the Tourism, Hospitality and Events Training Package Review

AFTA, ATEC and SSA would like to thank industry stakeholders who came together in the forums and provided feedback to the process. The information that we collected through the consultation was invaluable and provided real insight into the strategic needs of our industry.

We look forward to ongoing engagement and collaboration with industry to see that these priorities are addressed.

For further enquiries and information on the priorities, please contact:

Jayson Westbury (Australian Federation of Travel Agents) afta@afta.com.au

Gary O'Riordan (Australian Tourism Export Council) gary.oriordan@atec.net.au

Kit McMahon (Service Skills Australia) kmcmahon@serviceskills.com.au