ATEED’s game-changing online job-connector platform to address the growing skills shortages facing tourism – New Zealand’s largest export industry – is going from strength to strength.
Go with Tourism was launched in April and is already shifting the perceptions many young people have about careers in tourism. It provides a digital platform to connect talent with quality employers within the tourism industry, and employers with the right resources to attract and retain talent. There is a strong focus on pathway opportunities for Māori and Pasifika youth.
In August, we welcomed the Government’s announcement that it had awarded $5.2 million from the new International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) to help promote and attract talent into the visitor economy.
ATEED and Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) will now support the platform’s incorporation into a wider national programme of activity to build the tourism workforce.
We are delighted that the Government and tourism industry leaders saw the clear value of Go with Tourism and have provided the financial support to roll both the platform and the wider package of initiatives out across the country.
The platform’s development involved an industry steering group and followed a nationwide research project we led alongside TIA to discover what New Zealanders, particularly young people, thought about working in tourism. The research found both youth and parents did not understand opportunities within tourism and there were a number of perceived barriers.
More than 800 candidates have signed up, with more than 50 gaining employment already through Go with Tourism. About 60 tourism Companies, representing 190 different businesses, have registered to partner Go with Tourism.
Getting more people into tourism is one of the key strategic imperatives to emerge from the Destination AKL 2025 strategy and is a particular focus for us given the mega opportunities that are fast approaching us in 2021, starting with the 36th America’s Cup.
The repackaged Go with Tourism programme will include the expansion of the current platform into more regions, setting up a national hub with a dedicated team to manage the initiative along with regional coordinators, building an online knowledge hub for everyone in the industry, and organising engagement opportunities nationwide.
Last month, Go with Tourism (in partnership with digital marketing agency Tomahawk), was announced as a finalist in the 2019 New Zealand Tourism Awards for the ‘The Great Journeys of New Zealand Industry Enabler Award’.