CEO UPDATE
Steve Old - THA CEO
East Coast The challenges keep on coming for many hospitality businesses, and the East Coast hospitality community has again been hit hard. Speaking to many operators over recent weeks, the closure of the Tasman Highway near Orford has had a devastating impact at a time where they were just getting back on their feet. My heart goes out to them and we are working through the best support mechanisms we can provide through our corporate partnerships and through Government assistance grants and wage subsidies. We also want to provide direct support so we’re planning a THA East Coast ‘Tour’ on 13th and 14th July. We’ll be charging participants for a seat on our tour bus and stopping at several venues to bring direct custom and fundraising opportunities, with all funds to be donated to the affected member businesses. The THA wants to support the affected businesses as best we can. They’re some of our long term members and great industry people who operate fantastic venues and lead the way in providing a great customer experience. We look forward to releasing more details around the tour and getting to the venues to lift the spirits and the sustainability of our East Coast members! Industry Skills Shortage I also want to address the skills shortage that’s among the challenges that operators are facing. Nearly 94% of operators who reported a skills shortage in a recent THA survey, attribute the crisis to a lack of local skilled workers, and 39% cite a lack of appropriate training.
That’s exactly why we have initiated Visitor Experience Training (VXT). CEO Emilie Donovan and the board are already working extremely hard to identify areas of most critical need and develop robust, industry-specific training, with the first cookery course launched in June. Read more on page 26-27. There’s no quick fix to this crisis but there is a long term solution. It’s about getting our local young people engaged and making hospitality jobs an attractive, rewarding career path which is what we’re trying to do through our workforce development team and now through VXT. Non- accredited training can give participants the foundation skills of hospitality so that they can hit the ground running in a job. I am a member of the VXT board and we’re willing to work with any organisation to solve this crisis. Whether it be Drysdale, Skills Tasmania, Work and Training, UTAS or any other training providers. We all need to work to the same goal - building a strong workforce for the future. Tasmania’s youth unemployment rate is the worst in the country at around 13.8%. With appropriate funding, VXT has the potential to provide meaningful, job-ready training to our young people and get them excited about hospitality. We’ll be working with TICT and our interstate counterparts to lobby state and federal governments for adequate funding and incentive schemes to bring people into the industry and train them well. I look forward to getting the first VXT course underway in July and getting more Tasmanians industry- ready.
THA HOSPITALITY—REVIEW: JUNE 2021 | 7
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