With the beginning of Spring, employers are planning for the upcoming hiring season and support organizations like community DMOs, go2HR, and Tourism HR Canada are delivering resources to help.
Here are some of the resources available:
Need support?
go2HR’s new Workplace Learning Coaches are ready to engage with employers. The coaches are available at no cost and act as mental wellness “concierges” who offer personalized, one-on-one support for employee mental health and work with supervisors and employers to establish a foundation of psychological safety in the workplace.
Talent MATCH can connect you to the appropriate post-secondary school(s) and help you identify funding sources and wage subsidies.
Ready to hire?
Tourism HR Canada has put together a post-pandemic hiring guide to help attract and retain tourism and hospitality workers.
go2HR’s newest free online training course, Safer Spaces, is designed to create sexual harassment free workplaces in the BC tourism and hospitality industry.
Starting Wednesday, March 23, rapid antigen test kits are available to people aged 18 years and older through community pharmacies.
Eligible individuals can pick up one kit of five tests every 28 days from participating pharmacies at no cost.
Individuals should pick up a test kit when not having symptoms of illness to use at a future time when having symptoms of illness. Guidelines for testing continue to indicate tests should be used for symptomatic individuals.
With the recent resignation of Vivek Sharma, Vice Chair JJ Belanger has stepped into the chair's position (as per TIABC's bylaws) effective immediately. Barrett Fisher has been appointed Vice Chair of TIABC.
As travel resumes around the world, Destination BC is competitively vying for international visitors with its launch of The British Columbia Effect: Find Yourself, an extensive $6.7M marketing campaign designed to drive emotional urgency and encourage travel to BC in 2022 and into 2023 from key international and domestic long-haul markets: UK & Australia, California, Ontario, and Washington.
The campaign leverages the global brand platform, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘊 𝘌𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵, first launched in 2019 and reimagined for the current landscape to inspire global audiences to tap into something bigger, awaken a deeper connection, gain a different perspective, and find themselves–in every sense of the word– within British Columbia.
With people in BC’s core markets seeking wide-open spaces, nature and wildlife, and authentic experiences now more than ever, BC is well-positioned to meet and surpass their travel wish lists.
Tourism companies can create content that aligns with the BC Effect to attract like-minded visitors.
Sign up with the free BCRTS subscription plan to get your own account to register for this webinar and gain access to the free Tourism Digital Marketing Certification Program.
Sign up with the free BCRTS subscription plan to get your own account to register for this webinar and gain access to the free Tourism Digital Marketing Certification Program.
The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) launched a Community Well-Being Survey, on the International Day of Happiness, March 20, 2022. The survey, a partnership with Planet Happiness (a project of the Happiness Alliance), is meant to strengthen the relationship between the tourism industry and residents of the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia.
Thompson Okanagan residents, including tourism professionals, are invited to complete the survey. Once completed you will receive a personal report highlighting your results compared to the average results of other residents in the region.
Individuals and companies are encouraged to share the survey with team members and communities. To make sharing easy, TOTA has prepared a Media Kit with sample promotion materials for email and social media.
Training will focus on skills required by tourism operators, along with specific certificates needed for specific roles.
TIABC is requesting letters of support from interested members that can offer a supervised work experience placement opportunity and an opportunity to interview for any upcoming positions that operators may be hiring for. Members who provide letters of support will have the first opportunity to hire the graduates of CWRG.
The Sport Fishing Institute of BC is having their BIG Spring Raffle. Get the chance to win a trip to the Langara Fishing Lodge in Haida Gwaii, or even to Newton Cove Resort. Early Bird Prize draws on May 20th and Grand prize and Trip Draws will be made on July 1st. Tickets: $20
The North America Meaningful Travel Summit is an event connecting industry professionals with local changemakers in places around North America. The goal is to learn from one another, infuse more sustainability into the businesses with the knowledge gained, and to volunteer in and with the local community.
The Summit will take place in Victoria, BC September 28 - 30, 2022 and is open to all travel + tourism industry professionals.
A new $34-million fund for non-profit groups in British Columbia will provide much-needed support for organizations that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to struggle during recovery.
The focus of the new fund is to support organizations whose staff, volunteers, programs, and operations have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Funding will fill crucial gaps not covered by other funding sources, such as gaming grants, with a focus on building organizational resilience.
The fund is anticipated to launch in June 2022. To stay up to date on the fund, interested organizations can subscribe to Vancouver Foundation.
Propel is a federally funded Student Work Placement Program offering paid work-integrated learning opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sector. Propel offers employers a wage subsidy of up to 75% of a qualifying student’s wages, to a maximum of $7,500.
The audit was developed by WORTH, based on a workshop in November 2021 with 50 industry professionals, where CapU students, The Sociable Scientist, and WORTH Board of Directors led participants through a series of discussions on inclusion, rewards, advancement, retention, flexibility and fair treatment.
In the first study of its kind in BC, the organizations determined recommendations and best practices on how to collectively support the empowerment of women in the tourism industry.
WORTH Association and TOTA strongly encourage organizations to perform this self-audit to understand how to retain and develop women of recreation, tourism, and hospitality.
go2HR’s new Workplace Learning Coaches are ready to engage with employers. The coaches are available at no cost and act as mental wellness “concierges” who offer personalized, one-on-one support addressing stress, burnout, isolation, uncertainty about the future, and other concerns. The coaches also work with supervisors and employers to establish a foundation of psychological safety in the workplace and create an environment that enhances connection, productivity and retention.
go2HR’s newest free online training course, Safer Spaces, is designed to create sexual harassment free workplaces in the BC tourism and hospitality industry.
The online training course, designed for employers and supervisors, is live and open for registration. The Safer Spaces course is self-paced so that participants can complete the modules in a safe learning environment, without any pressure and according to their schedule.
There are 10 modules, and the course takes around three hours to complete.
Safer Spaces was designed by a team of experts convened by go2HR. The project team is united by a commitment to reduce the stigma around workplace sexual harassment and a desire to champion the topic as an integral element of workplace education and training.
Tourism HR Canada has put together a helpful guide to help attract and retain tourism and hospitality workers, called Now Hiring, which covers a range of essential HR practices, tips to implement, and practical checklists and forms to help tackle key issues.
ACE-WIL has put together a fantastic toolkit for employers and hiring managers looking to incorporate diversity and inclusion into their workplace. The Six Tools for Diversity in Work Integrated Learning (WIL) supports employers in attracting, hiring, and onboarding Students from International Pathways (SFIP).
The online toolkit brings together resources about current practices, the value that diversity brings to the workplace supports for onboarding and hiring, and techniques on coaching students on Canadian workplace norms.
Career Fairs are an excellent way to source talent for your open positions. But did you know that there are things that an employer can do to help make the most of the event? Take a moment to read through these excellent tips to make your organization shine at the next Career Fair you attend.
Castanet shared an excellent article about the TRUE Penticton Tourism Expo by Allison Markin. The article is an example of how employers and HR managers can showcase the benefits of working in the tourism industry to potential applicants.
It explains the type of person who would enjoy work in various tourism sectors, what they could do, and how they could become an ambassador for the region.
ACE-WIL has put together a fantastic toolkit for employers and hiring managers looking to incorporate diversity and inclusion into their workplace. The Six Tools for Diversity in Work Integrated Learning (WIL) supports employers in attracting, hiring, and onboarding Students from International Pathways (SFIP).
The online toolkit brings together resources about current practices, the value that diversity brings to the workplace supports for onboarding and hiring, and techniques on coaching students on Canadian workplace norms.
The International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC), the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) launched a new policy White Paper supporting Business Events recovery called: Business Events are the Fast Track to Recovery.
The report supports advocacy efforts of the business events industry by highlighting the value and importance of the business events industry and gives examples of what governments and policymakers around the world are doing to support the return of events.
Interested in sharing your images or videos with Destination BC? A model release gives you legal permission to use and publish an image that includes people.
Download this sample form to ensure you stay compliant with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).
Okanagan College instructors are available to deliver virtual, one-hour individually tailored business counselling sessions on a variety of leadership soft skills, business administration, and hospitality topics.
The TOTA team is here to help with the challenges your business is facing. As part of TOTA's Tourism Resiliency Program tourism companies can access the following free supports:
Custom reports from the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat (BCRTS) research program and highlights from a variety of sources including Destination Canada, Destination BC, Travel and Tourism Research Association, Destination Analysts, UNWTO, BCHA/STR, Destination Think, and Environics Analytics.
.png?upscale=true&width=320&upscale=true&name=Fast%20Facts%20Thompson%20Okanagan%20Tourism%20Research%20Summary%20(7).png)
