Tourism HR Canada congratulates the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB) on the launch of its new program aimed at creating more qualified tourism professionals: Skills Gain.
The team at TIANB worked closely with staff from Tourism HR Canada to add a new online option to its existing Skills Gain workshops. The online format addresses industry feedback for a training program that can be accessed 24/7 and does not require travel and the associated expenses (gas, parking, mileage, etc.).
TIANB first hired Tourism HR Canada in 2014 to identify unmet training needs. Tourism HR Canada conducted market research, examining training practices used by businesses and training offered by educational establishments. As part of the project, researchers asked respondents to identify barriers and challenges to current training practices, areas requiring additional skills training, and perceived future workforce needs.
The team collected 174 completed surveys. The vast majority were from small businesses with fewer than ten employees. Just one-third of respondents reported having a training budget. Only about one-quarter offered a formal in-house training program, and very few purchased external training materials. Respondents also reported skills gaps in various functional areas, including general workplace knowledge, essential competencies, and occupation-specific skills.
In response to the survey feedback, TIANB secured funding to develop a series of workshops aligned with the specific needs identified by tourism operators. The organization engaged Tourism HR Canada to develop the resources. The focus: customer-service-related competencies reinforced by some specific occupational training. (Many occupation-specific training needs in the province were being met through Emerit’s nationally available training and certification resources.)
Over the past year, Tourism HR Canada and TIANB renewed their partnership, this time to augment the workshop resources with self-directed online modules covering the five core skill areas identified by industry:
- Customer service
- Interpersonal skills
- Professionalism
- Communication skills
- Thinking skills
With the launch of these Skills Gain modules, New Brunswick now has a tailored training solution offered in a flexible format to meet industry expectations.
To learn more about the program, please visit tianb.com.
To access the training, please visit emerit.ca.