Hospitality staff shortages causing headaches for regional Vic businesses

Regional Victorian hospitality businesses will welcome the influx of tourists as states reopen but there’s a reason why some are being forced to shut their doors.

Robyn Schultz (left) and her staff at The Riverdeck Kitchen in Bright. Picture: Supplied

Regional Victoria will be booming this summer as it welcomes Melburnians back and states reopen but there are serious fears there won’t be enough staff to match the demand.

City slickers celebrated being allowed back into the regions as restrictions lifted last weekend.

But some regional hospitality businesses say they were forced to close their doors because they didn’t have enough employees to serve the increase in visitors.

In Echuca, on the Murray River, Shona Emmerson from Brownz Courtyard Cafe said it wasn’t viable to open on Monday or Tuesday.

It was the first time in 12 years she had been forced to shut on a public holiday.

“We’re desperate for workers and anyone who is employed here will receive the necessary training,” Ms Emmerson said.

“Visitors to our town expect to be served and that’s understandable because they’ve chosen to spend time here.

“With so many businesses closed it might have turned them off from coming back.”

It comes after towns on the NSW side of the river prepare to be inundated with visitors after the re-opening of the border between NSW and Victoria.

Fully vaccinated Victorians can now travel into NSW freely, meanwhile, Victoria will welcome all people from NSW regardless of vaccination status.

Mulwala Water Ski Club chief executive Peter Duncan said businesses on both sides of the Murray River had been struggling.

“We could probably do with another 10 to 12 staff just to help us really get going then we would reassess as we get to peak period during Christmas and the New Year,” Mr Duncan said.

“Our staff need to have their hours balanced because we don’t want them to burn out.

“Businesses aren’t just competing for customers, they’re competing for staff as well.”

Nathan Murphy (left) and his staff at The Spicy Duck in San Remo. Picture: Supplied

Tourism North East, the regional tourism board for Victoria’s high country, on Friday launched a new online jobs platform to attract tourism and hospitality workers from metropolitan Melbourne to the region ahead of summer.

Latest figures showed of the 3147 job vacancies in North East Victoria in September 2021, more than 360 were in the hospitality, retail and service industries.

The Riverdeck Kitchen’s Robyn Schultz said there was a critical staff shortage in Bright due to lockdown and the 2020 bushfires.

“A lot of casual staff that normally work in Bright in the summer and the snowfields in winter left the area due to the bushfires and never returned as Covid closed the ski season in 2020 and restricted the season in 2021,” she said.

Ms Schultz said other workers left the industry due the increased stress of Covid restrictions.

“Many staff sorted less stressful working conditions in other industries,” she said.

If Ms Shultz can’t find enough workers for the summer, she said she would be forced to reduce customer numbers or operating hours.

“Normally we trade seven days a week but from February to April 2021 we needed to close one day a week to manage staff days off and give ourselves a day off,” she said.

“We may have to do this again.”

The Spicy Duck’s Nathan Murphy said fortunately year 12 graduates applied for vacant positions at his San Remo business last year but he was doubtful it would be the same this summer.

“This year may be different with borders opening and young people probably wanting to travel outside of Victoria,” he said.

Mr Murphy said without tourists, businesses couldn’t rely on the limited local economy.

“Given much of the local population rely on tourism for employment, there has been less opportunities for locals to gain work and therefore less money circulating around the local economy,” he said.

“We would usually open for lunch and dinner during school holiday periods but over the last two years we have only opened for dinner as there was not enough day trade.”

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