‘No quick fix’: Tassie tourist hot spot battles staff shortages

A popular seaside town dubbed ‘the new Byron Bay’ is struggling to find workers amid the lack of available rentals, with one shop forced to shut its doors. FULL STORY >

Tasmanian Coastal Seafoods.

A POPULAR East Coast fish and chips shop has been forced to shut its doors indefinitely amid critical staffing shortages.

Tasmanian Coastal Seafoods is the latest regional business to fall victim to labour shortages, with owner David Ryan closing up shop last week – less than one year after opening the new location on Bicheno’s main street.

Mr Ryan said he was in desperate need of full time employees during the holiday period and has advertised positions on social media to no avail.

The Bicheno business owner said the biggest problem affecting potential workers was a lack of rental properties in the area.

“A lot of people that come over on visas looking for work don’t come here because they just can’t find anywhere to live … everyone that used to have houses for rent has now Airbnb’d them,” Mr Ryan said.

“I want to reopen but I can’t reopen until I get workers … even when it’s not peak tourist season I can’t do it on my own.”

Mr Davis is not alone – the Bicheno IGA Supermarket has reduced its trading hours due to staff shortages and businesses along the East Coast continue suffering from a lack of international workers.

Bicheno IGA has been forced to reduce trading hours due to staff shortages.

Commenters on social media said Bicheno had become ‘the new Byron Bay’ in recent years, with the housing market unable to keep up with demand.

While the state experiences a low unemployment rate, hundreds of roles have been listed on the Tasmanian Tourism and Hospitality jobs portal in the last month, with the number of vacancies up 108 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to recent Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Data.

Tasmanian Hospitality Association chief executive Steve Old said staffing shortages were prevalent across the state, with regional areas including the East Coast feeling the pinch.

“A lack of accommodation to house staff in regional and remote communities is an ongoing issue, while a lack of international visa workers is also hampering the ability to boost staffing levels,” Mr Old said.

“We continue to work with our regional tourism operators and the state government to address these concerns and provide support where possible, but there is unfortunately no quick fix.”

Tasmanian Coastal Seafoods has been forced to shut amid staff shortages.

East Coast Tasmania Tourism chief executive Grace Keath agreed not being able to house international workers was “a real problem”.

“There are very little rentals in these areas that we’re looking at like St Helens, Bicheno, in particular, Coles Bay, and while that’s great for the accommodation industry, it really does make rentals really hard to find.”

Tasmania Tourism Industry Council chief executive Luke Martin said staff shortages could result in “operator burnout”, with many workers jumping ship to different sectors.

“There was an expectation that this was going to happen … people have got a lot of opportunities to get employment, especially in regional areas of the state at the moment, and a lot of our workforce is transferable (to the) aged care and services industry,” Mr Martin said.

“I suspect it’s going to happen more and more in the next couple of months.”