Lack of skilled labour, training harming tourism industry: provincial report targets global excellence by 2020.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: TRAINING & EDUCATION

A continued lack of training and skilled labour across the industry is leaving many Northern Ontario operators up a creek without a paddle, according to industry leaders.

While tourism continues to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, education simply isn't keeping pace with the region's needs, says Doug Reynolds, executive director of the Northern Ontario Tourism Outfitters Association (NOTO).

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"We're definitely seeing a labour shortage, and while it's a subset of the general training concerns you're seeing across various industries here in Ontario, it's still a significant issue that needs to be addressed."

This problem plays out across the northeast in a number of ways, he says.

This includes preventing outfitters from being able to build up proper staffing levels with sufficiently experienced and knowledgeable workers.

Reynolds says this is partially due to some perceptions, particularly among younger, seasonal workers, that the tourism industry offers more of a stop-gap job, rather than a venue for a full-time career.

What's more, the isolated nature of many operators, often located in hard-to-reach fly-in lakeside locales, means it can prove challenging for owners and employees to pursue professional development opportunities.

Such opportunities are particularly key given the ever-changing nature of provincial regulations, which can sometimes require that operators receive proper training and understanding of the new legislation.

With a gradually decreasing number of provincial staff travelling through the region to educate outfitters, NOTO has built partnerships to deliver several one-off training efforts, though this is but a temporary solution, says Reynolds.

Similar problems exist in the northwest, where approximately 40 per cent of lodges are owned by Americans.

Due to legal restrictions, many of the major hiring decisions at these facilities must be made by Canadian staff, meaning that management-level individuals must be hired on.

However, with a lack of appropriately trained workers, many such foreign-owned outfitters face big problems in staying competitive here in the North, says Gerry Cariou, executive director of the Sunset Country Travel Association.

"It's hard to find good management. There are some big challenges to finding those upper-level employees, so yeah, availability is a basic issue."

While there are plenty of opportunities for management-level hires and entry-level hires...