As labour market pressures have eased across the economy more broadly, the rate of tourism businesses reporting they are using targeted recruitment strategies to recruit from under-represented talent pools has begun to fall. In April 2023, businesses were about twice as likely to target recruitment towards members of visible minorities, people with disabilities, and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community than they were in August 2024. While in some senses this is a natural reaction to improved labour conditions, it is important that the tourism sector does not lose sight of the importance and long-term value in cultivating talent pipelines across diverse talent pools.

Social media and online job posting services remained the primary means for advertising jobs across the sector, and most businesses across all industry groups have reported improving their compensation offerings (wages, perks, and other incentives) as a strategy for retention.

Around 77% of businesses were not currently making use of any short-term immigration programs to meet their staffing needs, with rates of use of these programs having fallen since last year. The most commonly used program was the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (at 8%), with a further 7% relying on international students already in their communities. While both remain viable options in principle, in practice the government has recently been clawing back extra allowances introduced over the pandemic, so investing in local talent pools remains an important strategy across the sector, particularly in large urban centres.

Employee training was largely unchanged since last year. Only around 21% have increased the training they provide, and it is interesting to note that the global increase in demand for training has surpassed the reported increases in budget to deliver training. As productivity increasingly becomes central to workforce discussions over the coming years, maintaining staff training will be key to business success.