Tourism and hospitality businesses will be frustrated by the Government’s ongoing failure to address staff shortages, National’s Tourism spokesperson Todd McClay says.
“The Government’s recently released Better Work Action document ignores the current workforce crisis faced by the tourism sector and instead commits to yet another working group.
“Labour needs to urgently address growing labour shortages. Tourism operators, who have done it tough through the COVID pandemic, need staff now.
“Businesses were running below capacity over the summer months and with the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in July/August, our international reputation will be at risk unless new Tourism Minister Peeni Henare acts now.”
National has a plan to get tourism back in business quickly:
To attract working holiday makers, National will refund application fees to people who arrive here before a certain date to encourage arrivals over the winter period and allow multiple applications for those working in industries where there are significant shortages.
We will focus Immigration New Zealand on processing visitor and work visas as fast as possible.
We will scrap the median wage requirement and replace it with an industry average that reflects skills and experience.
We will make sure that key roles in the tourism sector have a pathway to residence so we can attract talent here.
“New Zealand tourism and hospitality businesses deserve a government that will take action and not just deliver more working groups.”
Tourism Minister Peeni Henare has responded, saying the plan has been created in partnership by the Leadership Group which is made up of representatives from the tourism industry, Māori, unions, and government.
“This partnership has ensured that the initiatives in the Action Plan are workable, have the support of industry and workers, and will help address key systemic challenges which make it difficult for tourism to attract and retain its workforce,” he says.
“The results of the workforce survey led by AUT reinforces the need for these initiatives. In particular, there was evidence of concerning conditions for workers, high rates of bullying and harassment as well as a relatively high number who expressed their intent to leave the industry.
“The Action Plan deliberately takes a strategic long-term focus to address these underlying systemic issues in the industry.
“The Leadership Group will continue to have oversight of the implementation phase. Members of the group will also be closely involved in the implementation of particular initiatives. For example, the Steering Group overseeing the design of the Tourism and Hospitality Accord is a subgroup of the Leadership Group.”
