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Employment

Tourism Industry Solution to Minister Finley’s EI Problems say TIAO

Toronto - As Ontarians continue to receive pink slips due to budget cuts, one sector that can help alleviate pressures on Canada’s Employment Insurance system is tourism. believes Beth Potter, President of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario or (TIAO).

The organization sees tourism in Ontario is an economic driver and job creator. And have released the following stats and supporting ideas.

It said that, 147,000 tourism businesses employ over 608,000 Ontarians and contribute over $21 billion to the province’s economy, which is more than the mining, pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and advanced medical technologies sectors combined.

Ontario’s tourism businesses are currently preparing for one of their busiest seasons and are looking to hire full and part-time skilled professionals, youth (high school, college and university students) and recent graduates.

This is good news for job seekers; especially those who will be affected by the changes Human Resources Minister Diane Finley will be making to the EI system.

The new changes will put tougher conditions on people who have had more than three EI claims in the past five years or who have collected EI for more than 60 weeks in the past five years.

“There is a misconception out there that tourism jobs are not competitive and don’t translate into a successful career,” said Beth Potter, President of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. “According to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Tourism Human Resources Council, General Managers in our industry make on average $70K per year and those in manufacturing make about $66K,” Potter went on to say. Statistics also show that the average hourly rate for tourism jobs is $19.33, higher than the average hourly rate in manufacturing which is $19.11.

Over the years Ontario’s tourism industry has had to weather a number of serious storms such as the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the SARS outbreak, the global economic crisis of 2009 and continued cuts to tourism budgets by all levels of governments. Yet, the industry continues to pull together to create jobs and make significant contributions to the economy.

“In 2010, as countries were struggling with the global economic crisis and governments were cautious about their spending, Ontario’s tourism related employment grew 2.3% while total employment in Ontario only grew by 1.8%,” Potter added. “The fact that tourism jobs in Ontario grew during that time shows Ontario’s tourism operators are key employers and have the potential to do more,” concluded Potter.

Job seekers can find tourism jobs through popular search engines such as Workopolis.ca, JobBank.gc.ca and specialized sites like DiscoverTourism.ca.

The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) is the umbrella organization for leading associations, destination marketing organizations, regional tourism organizations and 147,000 businesses serving Ontario’s diverse tourism industry. TIAO provides a strong unified voice for the sector, advocating the importance of tourism and the interests of the business community to all levels of government in order to help the industry grow and prosper.