Derwent Valley tourism operator Rachel Power struggling to find enough staff for her cafe this summer
Hospitality industry leaders are calling for patience as venues hurry to train new staff to replace the thousands of workers who left during Covid lockdowns.
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AS they prepare to fling wide their doors to tourists, hospitality venues are pleading with locals and visitors to be patient with staff whose numbers have diminished because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief executive Steve Old said many venues were struggling to find new staff to replace those who left the industry when it was hit hard because of a dramatic drop in visitors after lockdowns interstate.
“We employed 22,000 people in the hospitality industry and were the third biggest employer, but we’ve lost about 14 per cent of people and thousands of workers,” Mr Old said.
“We’re hoping there’ll be no lockdowns once we open the borders because that will just sap everyone’s confidence and send negativity back through the industry.
“A lot of skilled people have left and a lot of new people are learning, so we want patrons to be patient with them.”
Kif Weber, owner of Salamanca Place restaurant Suzie Luck’s, has a “cautious optimism” about the state’s borders reopening.
Mr Weber is grateful to locals for their support after the restaurant reduced from seven days a week and about 26 staff to five days and 18 staff.
“I have such gratitude to local patrons, the effort they have made has been amazing,” he said.
“I know some think it will be risky to come now the borders are open and that’s an understandable emotion because we haven’t had experiences [with Covid] like the rest of the world.
“The pressure on our staff will be intense.”
Mr Weber, 43, has a wealth of experience in hospitality. He started out at 17, completed a four-year advanced diploma in hospitality management and worked in Europe for three years.
“We’ll be trying our best and we don’t want to burn out our crew,” he said.
“My main nervousness is for the staff if they are exposed to Covid and what that will mean.
“We’ll certainly be following all the Public Health guidelines and if we have to check that people are fully vaccinated we will.
“We trust people step up and do the right thing.”
Mr Weber said as many as a quarter of his patrons were from interstate and he supported borders reopening.
“We need it and we have to pull it off for the sake of the whole community,” he said.
“We are on a knife edge but we can’t control it.”
Crowne Plaza Hotel general manager Linda Collis is “really, really excited” about borders reopening on Wednesday.
“We know it will be a different normal but it will feel a bit more normal to have people to celebrate and be reunited,” Ms Collis said.
“You can expect a few bumps in the road, but we’ll get through it.
“We’re super optimistic for Christmas and the New Year through January.”
She also has lost skilled staff at the 235-room hotel and is keen to attract people to the industry.
“The hardest thing is to give staff certainty, we’ve lost some great people,” she said.
“It’s time to reinvest in a new generation of hospitality workers. It doesn’t matter your age or what job you do.”
Tourism industry crying out for more workers
DERWENT Valley tourism operator Rachel Power has got jobs going. Plenty of them, in fact.
Normally, her Waterfalls Cafe and Gallery in Mt Field National Park would have up to 30 staff on the books for the busy summer season. Presently, it has just nine.
Mrs Power said it did not matter if potential recruits could cook or knew how to make a coffee, they just needed to be presentable, good with customers and have an ability to be trained.
“All we’re looking for is someone who can hold a conversation and wants to work,” she said.
Roles at Waterfalls Cafe and Gallery are among hundreds of positions advertised on a Tasmanian tourism and hospitality jobs board, which is an initiative of the Tasmanian Hospitality Association and Tourism Industry Council Tasmania.
Mrs Power said the business had predominantly employed locals — many of them from Maydena and Westerway — but suggested an increase in the number of properties being used as Airbnb accommodation resulted in many families being forced to move from the area.
She said that, combined with perceived uncertainty about working in the tourism and hospitality sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic, had resulted in staff shortages for operators.
“One of the big things with Covid is we’ve lost a lot of people out of our industry,” Mrs Power said.
TICT chief executive Luke Martin said there were staff shortages even before Covid-19, but the problem had been compounded during the past 18 months with workers leaving the sector amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of challenges and we’ve got strategies in place to help address them, but it is going to be a bit of a hard slog for businesses to get the staff they need,” he said.
Mr Martin said a recruitment campaign had targeted young people including those looking to take a gap year, and mature-aged Tasmanians looking for a new challenge.
“It’s a great opportunity to be a part of an industry that is very fun, pretty exciting and you get to share Tasmania with visitors from all over the world,” he said.
Tourism operators also run the risk this summer of being forced to close if a positive Covid-19 case is detected at their business, leaving open the possibility of forced temporary closures for smaller sites.
Nevertheless, Mrs Power is hopeful that an influx of tourists after border reopening on Wednesday results in a lucrative January and flow-on into February and March.
She said the messages to visitors was clear, be patient.
“Everyone is doing the best they can,” she said.
For more information, visit www.tastourismandhospitalityjobs.com.au
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