Gaining the Edge - Tourism StrategyEmployers Inventory
Download the full report:
phase1report.pdf (711kb)
Tourism activity represents a large and growing area of Vancouver Island industry. To ensure its sustained growth, it is vital to supply the industry with qualified human resources. The Tourism Labour Market Research project was initiated by the Tourism Association of Vancouver Island (TAVI) and the Malaspina University-College (MUC) Recreation and Tourism Research Institute (RTRI) to provide a comprehensive inventory of tourism employment within the Vancouver Island region. Phase II will utilize the database to undertake more in depth research into tourism labour market needs in order to plan and monitor tourism related employment in the future. The goal of the combined project is:
To establish a research partnership between the Tourism Association of Vancouver Island and the Recreation and Tourism Research Institute at Malaspina University-College that supplies the tourism system on Vancouver Islands with locally based, reliable, on-going data for planned, sustained growth of the industry.
With the support of direct funding from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), Nanaimo, British Columbia, Phase I of the project commenced in late February 2002 and was completed by mid-June 2002. A three-person research team was employed by Tourism Vancouver Island under the guidance and direction of an Advisory Committee, which consisted of representatives from TAVI, MUC, and HRDC. The deliverables for Phase I of the project include a) a comprehensive database which inventories tourism employers on Vancouver Island and the Islands; b) a tourism labour market profile resulting from a survey of a sample of organizations in the database; and c) the more detailed proposal for Phase II of the project.
The completed database includes 3483 listings of tourism related organizations in the Vancouver Island region. It was compiled using a variety of secondary data sources such as Chambers of Commerce listings, telephone directories, tourism membership lists, websites, and promotional materials. The sectors represented in the database include:
- Accommodation
- Transportation
- Food and beverage
- Attractions
- Tourism education
- Travel and Tour operators
- Arts, Culture and Entertainment
- Conference and Meetings
- Outdoor recreation (sports, ecotourism, and adventure tourism)
Once the database was near completion, a telephone/ email survey was done to attempt to reach each organization in the database. The intent of the survey was to prepare a tourism labour market profile including information on:
- the degree to which the employer is involved in the tourism industry;
- an appropriate industry sector(s) for each employer;
- how the business, agency, and organizations is organized: private for-profit, not-for-profit, public agency;
- the seasons of operation;
- the number of employees: full or part-time and season of employment;
- the relative level of employment positions
A total of 1397 surveys were completed for a 40% response rate. Some of the findings from the survey data include:
- There is a variety of products and services delivered in the tourism system on Vancouver Island and the Islands with 54% of organizations providing accommodations and 32.6% providing food and beverage services. A large percentage of organizations (37.8) provide outdoor recreation, sport and adventure/eco-tourism products, 25.5% provide arts, culture and entertainment, and 21% are travel and tour operators. Conference and meetings services were provided by 16% of organizations, 14.7% were an attraction, 12.7% were in transportation, and 13.2% were in education and training.
- Contrary to the common image of tourism being highly seasonal, organizations surveyed remained in operation almost year round. 97.4% indicated they operate in the summer (July – September), 93.1% in the spring (April – June), 91.6% in the fall (October – December) and 79.7% remain in operation during the winter (January – March).
- Tourism organizations rely more heavily on full time employment than they do part time employment. The average number of full time people employed by tourism organizations ranged from 6.9 in the winter to 8.9 in the summer, and total full time employment ranged from 24,032 in the winter to 30,990 in the summer. By contrast, the average number of part time people employed by organizations ranges from 3 in the winter to 4.4 in the summer, and total part time employment ranged from 10,449 in the winter to 15,325 in the summer. Of interest, a high percentage of organizations, ranging between 44.6% to 60.1%, reported that they do not hire any part time employees throughout the year.
- On average, Vancouver Island tourism organizations operate with approximately 2 people in a management/supervisor capacity, resulting in an estimated 7663 management level positions per year, or 29% of full time tourism employment.
The proposal for Phase II was developed by the RTRI at Malaspina University-College after receiving input from the Advisory committee. One focus group was held in Nanaimo with representatives from three industry sectors to identify some of their information needs. With this combined input, Phase II will allow for the preliminary findings from Phase I to be expanded in scope and serve needs of the industry, education and training institutions and tourism marketing organizations.
A series of Public Service Announcements, published in local and regional newspapers, was done to build awareness of the project and to promote the value of research initiatives to the tourism industry.
