Addressing Structural and Cultural Workforce Issues in the Visitor and Hospitality Economies

We are delighted to put forward this Employment White Paper Submission and thus contribute to the consultation process catalysed by the National Jobs and Skills Summit on 1st and 2nd September 2022. This submission is compiled by academic experts in visitor and hospitality economy employment that are affiliated with the peak Australian scholarly body, the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE), which represents 31 tertiary institutions in Australia and New Zealand that teach and research tourism, hospitality and events. The submission is specifically focused on the visitor and hospitality economies, which combined contribute over 10% towards the national GDP, and create over a million jobs. Employment in these sectors provides unique employment (e.g., for youth) and cultural (e.g., for migrants) socialisation opportunities. Moreover, these economies serve a vital social function by facilitating leisure and wellbeing opportunities for friends, families and communities. The visitor and hospitality economies (herein V&H), globally, were the hardest hit of all sectors by the impacts of COVID-19, and alike many service sectors are now grappling with acute skills and labour shortages, compounded by a 48-year low unemployment rate in Australia.