tourism industry transformation plan

Reimagining the $9 trillion tourism economy—what will it take?

Tourism made up 10 percent of global GDP in 2019 and was worth almost $9 trillion, 1 See “Economic impact reports,” World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), wttc.org. making the sector nearly three times larger than agriculture. However, the tourism value chain of suppliers and intermediaries has always been fragmented, with limited coordination among the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that make up a large portion of the sector. Governments have generally played a limited role in the industry, with partial oversight and light-touch management.

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented crisis for the tourism industry. International tourist arrivals are projected to plunge by 60 to 80 percent in 2020, and tourism spending is not likely to return to precrisis levels until 2024. This puts as many as 120 million jobs at risk. 2 “International tourist numbers could fall 60-80% in 2020, UNWTO reports,” World Tourism Organization, May 7, 2020, unwto.org.

Reopening tourism-related businesses and managing their recovery in a way that is safe, attractive for tourists, and economically viable will require coordination at a level not seen before. The public sector may be best placed to oversee this process in the context of the fragmented SME ecosystem, large state-owned enterprises controlling entry points, and the increasing impact of health-related agencies. As borders start reopening and interest in leisure rebounds in some regions , governments could take the opportunity to rethink their role within tourism, thereby potentially both assisting in the sector’s recovery and strengthening it in the long term.

In this article, we suggest four ways in which governments can reimagine their role in the tourism sector in the context of COVID-19.

1. Streamlining public–private interfaces through a tourism nerve center

Before COVID-19, most tourism ministries and authorities focused on destination marketing, industry promotions, and research. Many are now dealing with a raft of new regulations, stimulus programs, and protocols. They are also dealing with uncertainty around demand forecasting, and the decisions they make around which assets—such as airports—to reopen will have a major impact on the safety of tourists and sector employees.

Coordination between the public and private sectors in tourism was already complex prior to COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, for example, tourism falls within the remit of two departments—the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)—which interact with other government agencies and the private sector at several points. Complex coordination structures often make clarity and consistency difficult. These issues are exacerbated by the degree of coordination that will be required by the tourism sector in the aftermath of the crisis, both across government agencies (for example, between the ministries responsible for transport, tourism, and health), and between the government and private-sector players (such as for implementing protocols, syncing financial aid, and reopening assets).

Concentrating crucial leadership into a central nerve center  is a crisis management response many organizations have deployed in similar situations. Tourism nerve centers, which bring together public, private, and semi-private players into project teams to address five themes, could provide an active collaboration framework that is particularly suited to the diverse stakeholders within the tourism sector (Exhibit 1).

We analyzed stimulus packages across 24 economies, 3 Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. which totaled nearly $100 billion in funds dedicated directly to the tourism sector, and close to $300 billion including cross-sector packages with a heavy tourism footprint. This stimulus was generally provided by multiple entities and government departments, and few countries had a single integrated view on beneficiaries and losers. We conducted surveys on how effective the public-sector response has been and found that two-thirds of tourism players were either unaware of the measures taken by government or felt they did not have sufficient impact. Given uncertainty about the timing and speed of the tourism recovery, obtaining quick feedback and redeploying funds will be critical to ensuring that stimulus packages have maximum impact.

2. Experimenting with new financing mechanisms

Most of the $100 billion stimulus that we analyzed was structured as grants, debt relief, and aid to SMEs and airlines. New Zealand has offered an NZ $15,000 (US $10,000) grant per SME to cover wages, for example, while Singapore has instituted an 8 percent cash grant on the gross monthly wages of local employees. Japan has waived the debt of small companies where income dropped more than 20 percent. In Germany, companies can use state-sponsored work-sharing schemes for up to six months, and the government provides an income replacement rate of 60 percent.

Our forecasts indicate that it will take four to seven years for tourism demand to return to 2019 levels, which means that overcapacity will be the new normal in the medium term. This prolonged period of low demand means that the way tourism is financed needs to change. The aforementioned types of policies are expensive and will be difficult for governments to sustain over multiple years. They also might not go far enough. A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey of SMEs in the tourism sector suggested more than half would not survive the next few months, and the failure of businesses on anything like this scale would put the recovery far behind even the most conservative forecasts. 4 See Tourism policy responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19), OECD, June 2020, oecd.org. Governments and the private sector should be investigating new, innovative financing measures.

Revenue-pooling structures for hotels

One option would be the creation of revenue-pooling structures, which could help asset owners and operators, especially SMEs, to manage variable costs and losses moving forward. Hotels competing for the same segment in the same district, such as a beach strip, could have an incentive to pool revenues and losses while operating at reduced capacity. Instead of having all hotels operating at 20 to 40 percent occupancy, a subset of hotels could operate at a higher occupancy rate and share the revenue with the remainder. This would allow hotels to optimize variable costs and reduce the need for government stimulus. Non-operating hotels could channel stimulus funds into refurbishments or other investment, which would boost the destination’s attractiveness. Governments will need to be the intermediary between businesses through auditing or escrow accounts in this model.

Joint equity funds for small and medium-size enterprises

Government-backed equity funds could also be used to deploy private capital to help ensure that tourism-related SMEs survive the crisis (Exhibit 2). This principle underpins the European Commission’s temporary framework for recapitalization of state-aided enterprises, which provided an estimated €1.9 trillion in aid to the EU economy between March and May 2020. 5 See “State aid: Commission expands temporary framework to recapitalisation and subordinated debt measures to further support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak,” European Commission, May 8, 2020, ec.europa.eu. Applying such a mechanism to SMEs would require creating an appropriate equity-holding structure, or securitizing equity stakes in multiple SMEs at once, reducing the overall risk profile for the investor. In addition, developing a standardized valuation methodology would avoid lengthy due diligence processes on each asset. Governments that do not have the resources to co-invest could limit their role to setting up those structures and opening them to potential private investors.

3. Ensuring transparent, consistent communication on protocols

The return of tourism demand requires that travelers and tourism-sector employees feel—and are—safe. Although international organizations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) have developed a set of guidelines to serve as a baseline, local regulators are layering additional measures on top. This leads to low levels of harmonization regarding regulations imposed by local governments.

Our surveys of traveler confidence in the United States  suggests anxiety remains high, and authorities and destination managers must work to ensure travelers know about, and feel reassured by, protocols put in place for their protection. Our latest survey of traveler sentiment in China  suggests a significant gap between how confident travelers would like to feel and how confident they actually feel; actual confidence in safety is much lower than the expected level asked a month before.

One reason for this low level of confidence is confusion over the safety measures that are currently in place. Communication is therefore key to bolstering demand. Experience in Europe indicates that prompt, transparent, consistent communications from public agencies have had a similar impact on traveler demand as CEO announcements have on stock prices. Clear, credible announcements regarding the removal of travel restrictions have already led to increased air-travel searches and bookings. In the week that governments announced the removal of travel bans to a number of European summer destinations, for example, outbound air travel web search volumes recently exceeded precrisis levels by more than 20 percent in some countries.

The case of Greece helps illustrate the importance of clear and consistent communication. Greece was one of the first EU countries to announce the date of, and conditions and protocols for, border reopening. Since that announcement, Greece’s disease incidence has remained steady and there have been no changes to the announced protocols. The result: our joint research with trivago shows that Greece is now among the top five summer destinations for German travelers for the first time. In July and August, Greece will reach inbound airline ticketing levels that are approximately 50 percent of that achieved in the same period last year. This exceeds the rate in most other European summer destinations, including Croatia (35 percent), Portugal (around 30 percent), and Spain (around 40 percent). 6 Based on IATA Air Travel Pulse by McKinsey. In contrast, some destinations that have had inconsistent communications around the time frame of reopening have shown net cancellations of flights for June and July. Even for the high seasons toward the end of the year, inbound air travel ticketing barely reaches 30 percent of 2019 volumes.

Digital solutions can be an effective tool to bridge communication and to create consistency on protocols between governments and the private sector. In China, the health QR code system, which reflects past travel history and contact with infected people, is being widely used during the reopening stage. Travelers have to show their green, government-issued QR code before entering airports, hotels, and attractions. The code is also required for preflight check-in and, at certain destination airports, after landing.

4. Enabling a digital and analytics transformation within the tourism sector

Data sources and forecasts have shifted, and proliferated, in the crisis. Last year’s demand prediction models are no longer relevant, leaving many destinations struggling to understand how demand will evolve, and therefore how to manage supply. Uncertainty over the speed and shape of the recovery means that segmentation and marketing budgets, historically reassessed every few years, now need to be updated every few months. The tourism sector needs to undergo an analytics transformation to enable the coordination of marketing budgets, sector promotions, and calendars of events, and to ensure that products are marketed to the right population segment at the right time.

Governments have an opportunity to reimagine their roles in providing data infrastructure and capabilities to the tourism sector, and to investigate new and innovative operating models. This was already underway in some destinations before COVID-19. Singapore, for example, made heavy investments in its data and analytics stack over the past decade through the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (STAN), which provided tourism players with visitor arrival statistics, passenger profiling, spending data, revenue data, and extensive customer-experience surveys. During the COVID-19 pandemic, real-time data on leading travel indicators and “nowcasts” (forecasts for the coming weeks and months) could be invaluable to inform the decisions of both public-sector and private-sector entities.

This analytics transformation will also help to address the digital gap that was evident in tourism even before the crisis. Digital services are vital for travelers: in 2019, more than 40 percent of US travelers used mobile devices to book their trips. 7 Global Digital Traveler Research 2019, Travelport, marketing.cloud.travelport.com; “Mobile travel trends 2019 in the words of industry experts,” blog entry by David MacHale, December 11, 2018, blog.digital.travelport.com. In Europe and the United States, as many as 60 percent of travel bookings are digital, and online travel agents can have a market share as high as 50 percent, particularly for smaller independent hotels. 8 Sean O’Neill, “Coronavirus upheaval prompts independent hotels to look at management company startups,” Skift, May 11, 2020, skift.com. COVID-19 is likely to accelerate the shift to digital as travelers look for flexibility and booking lead times shorten: more than 90 percent of recent trips in China  were booked within seven days of the trip itself. Many tourism businesses have struggled to keep pace with changing consumer preferences around digital. In particular, many tourism SMEs have not been fully able to integrate new digital capabilities in the way that larger businesses have, with barriers including language issues, and low levels of digital fluency. The commission rates on existing platforms, which range from 10 percent for larger hotel brands to 25 percent for independent hotels, also make it difficult for SMEs to compete in the digital space.

Governments are well-positioned to overcome the digital gap within the sector and to level the playing field for SMEs. The Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA) platform, which was created by the Australian government, is an example of enabling at scale. It acts as a matchmaker, connecting suppliers with distributors and intermediaries to create packages attractive to a specific segment of tourists, then uses tourist engagement to provide further analytical insights to travel intermediaries (Exhibit 3). This mechanism allows online travel agents to diversify their offerings by providing more experiences away from the beaten track, which both adds to Australia’s destination attractiveness, and gives small suppliers better access to customers.

Governments that seize the opportunity to reimagine tourism operations and oversight will be well positioned to steer their national tourism industries safely into—and set them up to thrive within—the next normal.

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Margaux Constantin is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Dubai office, Steve Saxon is a partner in the Shanghai office, and Jackey Yu  is an associate partner in the Hong Kong office.

The authors wish to thank Hugo Espirito Santo, Urs Binggeli, Jonathan Steinbach, Yassir Zouaoui, Rebecca Stone, and Ninan Chacko for their contributions to this article.

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Digital Transformation: A Competitive Edge in Tourism & Hospitality

November 03, 2023 •

6 min reading

“If we are digitally on the way and data-based, […] it is essential that the guest stands for us in the center. Digitalization should simplify internal processes, increase the guest experience and always have in mind the tourism stakeholders of the destination. Only in such a trio we can be successful.” - Mattia Storni, Saas-Fee/Saastal Tourismus.

Technology is an integral part of modern travel, influencing everything from trip planning, communication, transactions and beyond. The tourism and hospitality industry is rapidly evolving due to digital advancements. Guests now expect a high level of digital maturity from service providers, with some leading the way in using data-driven and digital tools to deliver innovative and personalized experiences.

Yet small businesses often face significant challenges in adopting digital transformation due to costs, budget constraints, labor shortages and complexity in implementation. They also struggle to harmonize the interests of different stakeholders and ensure a personalized human touch in the digital experience. Adapting to digital processes involves reshaping the entire value chain and service delivery, making digital transformation a lower priority for many in the industry.

Despite these obstacles, the digital era offers diverse opportunities for businesses to overcome these challenges and gain a competitive edge. To explore this further, we conducted interviews with 15 Swiss industry experts in our podcast, available on Spotify , who discussed how digital transformation can drive success, sharing their experiences and best outcomes on leveraging technologies. Below you can read five key reasons why this shift is crucial and discover how you too can be part of this transformation.

5 Reasons why every business should join the digital transformation

1. enhance the customer experience.

First things first. Digital transformation does not relate only to the use of cutting-edge technology to offer innovative experiences. Indeed, digital transformation is about improving certain processes in creating and delivering customer experiences. The focus should be on making the customer’s journey as exceptional as possible. In fact, nowhere is the pursuit of generating the best customer experience more important than the tourism and hospitality industry, as highlighted by many, if not all, of our interviewees.

Do not forget that tourism is made to travel. It's about having an experience, it's about making people dream. So don't forget to be customer centric. That's the key in the end, it's to talk to people and make them dream. -   Emmanuelle Rose, Lausanne Tourisme.

“ A unforgettable tourist experience generates great satisfaction for those who have lived it. As a result, they spend more and actively contribute to the local economy. Yet a heritage can only be preserved if the economic environment that supports it is profitable. In the case of the Lavaux terraced vineyards, selling wine to visitors is therefore crucial. Our mission to preserve and enhance the landscape therefore necessarily involves working in direct and close partnership with tourist offices to optimize the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the offers they provide." - Vincent Bailly, Lavaux Patrimoine Mondial.

Embracing digitalization is a game-changing strategy to craft personalized journeys and maximize customer satisfaction. The customer journey presents multiple touchpoints, each representing an opportunity to go the extra-mile and use technology in a smart way. In other words, technology is simply a means to an end.  

2. Understand customer needs 

To offer the best experience, businesses must understand customer needs and expectations. Digital transformation and data collection provide businesses with in-depth insights into their customers, enabling tailored experiences that boost customer satisfaction.

“ The beautiful challenge that we have in hospitality is that we have a guest that has needs, but we also need to make sure that these needs are satisfied, that there's always new experiences created, that we always go the extra mile, and this is something that actually characterizes everybody working in hospitality because […] we have the passion to deliver the best possible experience for our guests .” - Julia Geffers, Hoxell.

3. Improve efficiency and profitability

Digitization saves time and effort. Digital tools streamline operations, reducing repetitive tasks and freeing up employees to provide more personalized, human-centric service. Automation of operations ensures quality and generates better results.

“ Digitalization will not take away the personal touch, […] it will help [employees] to make sure that they know what they're doing, but they will still be doing or delivering the human part of it in a more safe or more secure or more convinced way, because they know exactly what they're doing and what they are talking about .” - Julia Geffers, Hoxell.

However, a balance must be struck to avoid overcomplicating things : “ The hotel industry is still a field environment with people who work hard, who are all passionate. Technology will help a lot, but once again, we must not try to make things too complex .” - Christopher Meignier, Blent.

4. Informed decision-making with data

Data insights are essential for effective business and destination management. Data can come from various sources, especially in our industry where numerous stakeholders contribute to the customer journey.

Consider the multitude of touchpoints that travelers encounter during their journey. These touchpoints shape the overall tourist experience and offer invaluable information to the businesses. However, collecting, managing, and analyzing this data effectively can be quite complex:

" Tourism needs a great deal in the way of digital tools, apps and websites and so on. But everything is held and managed separately, so to say in the form of silos. So, for every topic, for every organization and for every company there is a nice website, a nice app, whatever makes sense for them. And very often, the data that is needed for this is collected repeatedly. And that, fundamentally, is not very efficient. And it is, above all, not beneficial for the quality of the data that is being collected. You must put a lot of effort into such data collection ." - André Golliez.

However, collecting this data gold mine is important for a business to thrive. In fact, data provide knowledge and information on visitor numbers, behaviors, trends and many other essential elements that not only enhance the customer experience but also contribute to the sustainable development of the destination.

“ We're trying to implement a novel approach to wine tourism to stimulate a better understanding of the site while encouraging the spontaneous purchase of Lavaux wines without burdening the winegrowers themselves. The first step was to identify and monitor the flows, types and behaviours of people moving around the perimeter. Based on this data, the idea is to enrich the tourist experience offered to the tens of thousands of visitors to the site by providing them with on-site and digital information, while at the same time closely connecting this information with the landscape and heritage on offer .” - Vincent Bailly, Lavaux Patrimoine Mondial.

5. Promote industry collaboration

The interviews revealed an interesting point. When asking our interviewees to share recommendations, it was impressive to hear that all were highlighting the need for collaboration.

“ Don't hesitate to share this data because if it is important for you, it can also be important for a whole destination, for example. And in the same way that you share your experience, I strongly encourage you to share this data anonymously of course, but to share this data within a destination, within a group, at least to help each other. That's it, because we all live in the same industry. And if the industry is doing well, we are all doing well .” - Christopher Meignier, Blent.

Sharing data and resources within the industry helps offset costs and enhance collective knowledge and experiences. The tourism industry is highly dependent on interactions among stakeholders. Collaborative efforts create synergy, ensuring seamless and rewarding experiences for travelers and make destinations more attractive.

I think we should try to create a kind of dynamic among the actors. Because it's clear that, as a hotel, we are not just isolated, right? We are part of a market place, we are part of an ecosystem, we have other actors and finally, the tourist is looking for a global experience that is made by the different actors. So we have to say it, we have to create this dynamic, we have to create this interest for the theme and also show them finally what are the added values to use digital. And this is something that must be done between the players but also within the company. -   Prof. Roland Schegg

Would you like to be part of the change?

At the EHL Hospitality Business School, we are leading a coaching program created for SMEs in the Canton de Vaud in collaboration with the Service de la Promotion de l’Economie et de l’Innovation and Vaud Promotion. The aim of this program is to provide support and guidance to businesses in the Vaud travel sector that are looking to digitize their operations and leverage technologies.

We have just concluded the first edition in which we supported five innovative projects: a centralized platform for a smart destination, a VR and 360° streaming platform, an event performance analysis tool, a digital marketing strategy and a hybrid marketing project designed for a more sustainable UNESCO site. These five projects demonstrate the ongoing commitment of all stakeholders to strengthening the region's competitiveness in the tourism sector.

The second call for projects was opened on October 31, 2023. If you are interested in learning more about this program, go to our dedicated website and submit your proposals before December 31, 2023.

All of these initiatives are part of the Flagship Resilient Tourism , learn more about our project on our website.

Assistant Professor at EHL Hospitality Business School

Associate Professor at EHL Hospitality Business School

Resilient Tourism Flagship Project Coordinator

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New Zealand reveals action plan to transform tourism post pandemic

Sarah Pollok

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Government has revealed plans to build a stronger, more sustainable tourism industry.

Yesterday, Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash shared a draft of the 'He Mahere Tiaki Kaimahi Better Work Action Plan', which aims to transform the tourism industry for employees, businesses and tourists.

What is the Better Work Action Plan?

The Better Work Action Plan is the first phase of the Tourism Industry Transformation Plan. It was opened for public consultation this week at the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand's annual conference in Nelson.

The plan was developed by the Industry Transformation Plan Leadership Group, which is made up of Government, industry, unions, and Māori.

Why is the action plan necessary?

Typically, jobs in tourism or hospitality have been seen as demanding, unreliable and poorly paid for employees, said Nash. Unsurprisingly, this has made it difficult for businesses to retain staff.

However, without a thriving workforce, the report stated, Aotearoa would not have a thriving tourism industry.

The goal then, according to Nash was to challenge the current perception and turn a career in tourism into something that is full of "aspiration, fulfilment and with attractive career pathways".

What does the Better Work Action Plan involve?

Simply put, the report "identifies challenges and sets out actions to overcome them," said Nash.

Some actions include: -Improving education, training and employee experience -Providing more resources for business owners and operators -Future-proofing the industry through technology and innovation -This includes a Tourism and Hospitality Accord to set employment standards -Developing cultural competency within the workforce

New Zealand's tourism industry wasn't perfect before Covid-19 and Nash said the pandemic exacerbated these weaknesses.

However, this made now the perfect time to rebuild.

"Now our borders are fully open, there's a strong uptick in arrivals, and we're anticipating a surging summer of tourism," he said.

"It's time to look ahead to the future of the sector and ensure we do not just go back to the way things were, but learn from the challenges of the past few years and rebuild in a stronger and more sustainable way.

"The action plan sets out a vision for the New Zealand tourism sector that is regenerative - where tourism is giving back more than it takes from people, communities, and the environment."

When will the final plan be released?

Feedback will be accepted until 14 September. Then, after the ITP Leadership Group considers the feedback, it aims to release the final plan before the end of the year.

Have your say on the plan here .

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Tourism transformation takes another step

Skills shortages and career progression in the tourism and hospitality sector are the first priorities of the new Industry Transformation Plan being drawn up for tourism.

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has outlined next steps in the Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) for the sector, originally foreshadowed in May as part of the $200 million Tourism Communities Support, Recovery and Re-set package.

“The Tourism ITP will be ground-breaking because the industry’s recovery strategy will be based on a partnership between government, industry, workers and Māori interests,” Stuart Nash said.

“The Tourism ITP will prioritise regenerative tourism, which means the industry seeks to build social licence by giving back more than it takes from people, places and the environment.

"The first stage of the ITP will focus on ‘better work’ and developing the tourism workforce. Like any industry, success depends on those working within it. This means investing more in people, deepening the talent pool, lifting skill levels and ultimately providing better work for those in the tourism and hospitality industries.

“There is a huge opportunity for all of us with a stake in tourism to support and develop different pathways for people keen on a career in the industry. This includes formal education and training, direct paths through paid work, experience in conservation or the primary sector, or cultural knowledge of manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga.

“The disruption of the global COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to step back and work collaboratively on a vision for tourism of the future. The Tourism ITP will focus on actions that all partners can take to address skills and career questions in the industry.

“I am also signalling the second priority for the ITP will be environmental challenges posed by tourism. This will build on valuable work by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, the Tourism Futures Taskforce, and the NZ Aotearoa Government Tourism Strategy, amongst others.

Stuart Nash also announced the co-chairs and wider leadership group who will develop the ITP. "I’m pleased Gráinne Troute has accepted the position of industry co-chair. She is currently chair of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, and an experienced leader in the sector.

“John Crocker, National Secretary of Unite Union, has accepted the role of union co-chair.  The government co-chair is Karl Woodhead, acting General Manager of MBIE’s Tourism Branch.

“Membership of the ITP Leadership group is being finalised, and the following people are confirmed:

• Bridget Legnavsky, RealNZ
• Charlie Phillips, Queenstown Resort College
• Donna Purdue, MBIE.
• George Hollinsworth, E T ū Union
• Gillian Millar, Accor Hotels
• John Barrett, Kāpiti Island Nature Tourism
• Julie White, Hospitality Association New Zealand
• Les Morgan, Sudima Hotels
• Nikki Dines, Air New Zealand
• Pania Tyson-Nathan, New Zealand Māori Tourism
• Paul Retimanu, Manaaki Management
• Sheryl Cadman, First Union
• Trent Yeo, Ziptrek EcoTours

“I expect to receive a first draft of the Better Work Action Plan for tourism in the second quarter of 2022, after which the group will consult widely.

“I’m confident the ITP will transform the industry in partnership across government, business, workers and Māori. Tourism has had its challenges but I echo the Prime Minister’s recent words: he rā ki tua – better times are coming,” said Stuart Nash.

Further information about the ITP will be on the MBIE website: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/immigration-and-tourism/tourism/tourism-recovery/tourism-communities-support-recovery-and-re-set-plan/tourism-industry-transformation-plan

Strategic Projects

Practical and transformational plan to uplift tourism workforce, 2 march 2023.

Tourism Minister Peeni Henare has launched the  Better Work Action Plan , aimed at making the tourism workforce stronger, more sustainable, and resilient.

TIA Chair Gráinne Troute, Industry co-chair of the Tourism Industry Transformation Plan partnership which created the plan, says: “The Action Plan is both practical and potentially transformational, forming a holistic package of proposals that should bring about positive changes to the tourism industry”. 

The plan has six proposals (Tirohanga Hou) and 14 initiatives to address four key systemic issues facing the tourism workforce. The issues identified were demand fluctuations; pay and conditions; firm maturity and scale; and current and future skills gaps. 

The solutions aim to create a more regenerative, high value and resilient industry that all New Zealanders can be proud of.

“The creation of a Tourism and Hospitality Accord will require businesses to meet certain workplace standards, recognising those that are already doing the right thing, as well as, where it is warranted, shifting the dial towards better pay and conditions for workers across the industry,” says Ms Troute. 

Helping businesses better understand existing technology would enhance productivity and drive better outcomes for workers and businesses, as would fit-for-purpose education and training.

Embracing seasonality, and leaning into the flexibility of the industry, will involve exploring innovative models such as employee and job-sharing amongst tourism operators.

Building cultural competency within the industry will enable businesses and workers to tell more authentic stories and build more diverse and inclusive workplaces.

“There are many positive stories of people with fulfilling and rewarding careers in tourism. Showcasing these people, their careers, and the variety that tourism has to offer should help attract more workers to the industry,” Ms Troute said. 

TIA Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram says the solutions developed by the group are coming at a critical time for the industry. “Thank you to the industry leadership group for their work developing a comprehensive view on the tourism workforce of the future.”

An implementation plan will be developed following the release of the Better Work Action Plan. For an indicative timeline and further next steps, please visit the Better Work Action Plan website.  The next phase of the ITP is underway and is focusing on the environment.

Thanks to our strategic partners

Tourism Industry Transformation Plan

2021 support - tourism communities: support, recovery and re-set plan, 2020 support - tourism recovery package , tourism futures taskforce.

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Tourism recovery

Aotearoa New Zealand’s tourism industry has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has provided broad-based and targeted support to the industry since the pandemic began. You can read about the support at the links below.

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The Tourism Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) was a partnership with the tourism industry, Māori, unions, workers and government to transform tourism in Aotearoa to a more regenerative model.

• Phase 1: Better Work
• Phase 2: Environment

The government’s $200m Tourism Communities: Support, Recovery and Re-set Plan targets 5 communities most affected by the loss of international tourism, and the national tourism system.

• Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs)
• Māori Business Response Tāpoi
• The 3 business initiatives
• Case studies: March 2022

The government’s $400 million Tourism Recovery Package was implemented in 2020 to support the industry.

• Regional Events Fund
• Strategic Tourism Assets Protection Programme
• Documents relating to the Tourism Recovery Package

The New Zealand Tourism Futures Taskforce is a public private partnership to lead the thinking on the future of tourism in New Zealand. MBIE provides Secretariat services to the Taskforce.

• The Tourism Futures Taskforce interim report – We are Aotearoa
• Terms of reference for New Zealand Tourism Futures Taskforce

© Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/immigration-and-tourism/tourism/tourism-recovery/ Please note: This content will change over time and can go out of date.

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Tourism’s workforce plan good start, needs work – TIA

22nd September 2022 By Sara Barker | [email protected] | @tourismticker

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