As B.C.’s tourism industry looks ahead to a summer re-start, an acute labour shortage exacerbated by the pandemic remains a big problem.
Ian Tostenson with the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association says bars and restaurants are no exception with about 40,000 jobs available across the province.
“We are in a labour crisis, both back of the house and now front of the house,” he said on NL Newsday. “A lot of people left the industry because we weren’t dependable employers because we couldn’t be, and then we’ve got a shortage of workers in general in B.C. just because of demographics.”
“We think out of the 190,000 people that were in the industry prior to the pandemic, we think we’re short probably 40,000 people right now.”
Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverley DeSantis previously told NL News that while there may be pent-up demand for travel some outside the box thinking will be required to bring workers back but notes they’ve had to do it before.
“We need an attraction program that we’ve been working on to get people back. We need to work with the government to incent (sic) people to come back,” she said on the NL Noon Report.
“This industry has been decimated by COVID. Even though we’ve been planning for a year-and-a-half for the launch, it’s here now and we’re kind of seeing we have these heavy steps in front of us.”
Tostenson is encouraging people like students to apply at their local eateries if they’re looking for work.
“Just walk down to your favourite restaurant, identify yourself, you know put a clean shirt on and just say, ‘I really want to work for this restaurant’ and I pretty much guarantee you’re going to get a job,” Tostenson added.
“For those who are thinking about it, just think about your resume, you know the summer of 2021 you worked at a restaurant, you learned customer service, you learned how to handle cash, scheduling, you’re going to meet some new people, its fun.”
“Many, many people in B.C. that have gone on to successful careers, they started in restaurants. It is a great starting point,” he added.
Walt Judas, the CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., noted the industry lost billions of dollars in revenue over the past 16 months. He says the recovery process won’t truly get underway until international travellers can visit the province.
“If we could do it with bubble zones or bubble countries or start with the United States and progress from there, that’s really where the industry needs to be in fairly short order,” Judas said, noting the industry is calling on the federal government to move quickly to reopen the border.
“We can’t afford another summer with only domestic visitation because it doesn’t pay the bill.”
Yesterday, the B.C. government announced that restaurants and bars that were temporarily allowed to serve liquor on outdoor patios areas could apply to keep them permanently to help with their long-term recovery plan.
In the meantime, Tostenson is asking people to be patient as restaurants may reduce their hours or modify their menus.
He also says bars and restaurants are looking ahead to a further easing of COVID restrictions as part of Step 3 of B.C.’s Restart Plan – though that not take effect before July 1, at the earliest.
– With files from The Canadian Press