​The WA Government has committed a further $4.878 million over the next two years (2024-26), for Tourism WA to continue delivery of the Tourism Workforce Development Program, funding a series of initiatives supporting the growth of the tourism and hospitality workforce.
This funding commitment aligns with a key pillar of the WA Visitor Economy Strategy 2033 (WAVES 2033) Workforce Attraction and Retention initiative, to develop and grow a skilled tourism and hospitality workforce delivering service excellence, with the aim to deliver a high-performing industry to support Western Australia’s aspirational target of a $25 billion visitor economy per annum by 2033.
Tourism is an important industry for Western Australia's economy, generating $13.2 billion in Gross State Product and filling 110,800 jobs, which accounted for 6.8% of the state's total employment in 2022-23. Find out the value of tourism to the regional, state and national economy here.
The 2022-23 tourism filled jobs figure of 110,800 is an increase of 35 per cent on the previous year and a return to the pre-pandemic mark (109,700 jobs) and demonstrates a move in the right direction towards addressing labour shortages. The focus is now moving towards building a highly skilled sector workforce and ensuring the pipeline of homegrown talent to create a sustainable industry workforce.
The Tourism Workforce Development Program has four key strategy areas:
- Local Jobs for Local People – Increasing local capacity and capability;
- Inbound Workforce - Leveraging the inbound workforce;
- Industry Profiling - Raising the profile of the industry as a positive career choice; and
- Resources and Tools - Supporting employee attraction and retention.
Dedicated tourism and hospitality industry portal – Westernaustralia.jobs
westernaustralia.jobs is the FREE dedicated tourism and hospitality jobs, training and careers information portal developed in partnership between Tourism WA and the Australian Hotels Association WA. The portal connects jobs seekers directly to industry employers and jobs and is the call to action for Tourism Workforce Development Program initiatives.
Since its launch in May 2022, the site has seen over 11,000 job seeker registrants and more than 4,500 job applications submitted for the registered job vacancies.
Resources for Industry employers
- We encourage industry employers to register on westernaustralia.jobs and list job vacancies for free to take advantage of workforce initiatives being delivered by Tourism WA, communicated through monthly employer newsletter.
- On registration, industry employers can also access a free online copy of the Employer Toolkit, a collation of information to support attraction and retention of workers from different cohorts.
- Support the next generation of tourism and hospitality professionals by hosting work experience and work placement students.
Resources for Schools and Students
- High Schools educators and career advisors can access the School Resources for FREE, including the Careers Guide, career videos, posters, teacher presentations
- Book a request for the High School Tourism and Hospitality Careers Promotion Program, or the Chef Ambassador Program
- Search the work experience and work placement opportunities.
- For more information on the Tourism Workforce Development Program or to be involved in Workforce Development initiatives delivered by Tourism WA, please email workforce@westernaustralia.com.