Program helps tourist operators find and train workers

Program trains workers for tourism industry A program designed to identify workforce labour gaps in the northern Ontario tourism industry is back for another year.

A program designed to identify workforce labour gaps in the northern Ontario tourism industry is back for another year.

Destination Northern Ontario is accepting applications for its Tourism SkillsNet North initiative, which trains prospective employees for job opportunities in the tourism sector.

It’s the third year of the program. Since it began, more than 400 people have been matched with 170 registered employers.

"The training provided by Tourism SkillsNet North provides core skills that can be used for many tasks or roles,” said Destination Northern Ontario spokesperson Sara Currier.

“These kinds of skills also help job seekers find and secure jobs with future employers, especially in the tourism sector."

Errington's Wilderness Island is one northern tourism outfitter that has benefited from the program.

"This is an industry of small business,” said owner Al Errington.

“We don't have, necessarily, the resources that a lot of large businesses have in HR training and stuff like that. So, being able to access this through our tourism support organizations makes a huge difference."

Charlene Snow, owner of Eagle Lake Island Lodge in northwestern Ontario, said the program has been useful in training people who are new to the industry.

"The training program gave them some really good core fundamentals,” Snow said.

“We experience a lot of challenges in our industry, and they seem to address some of the specific pieces."

The program also offers wage subsidies for qualified employers.

"Not only do they come, and there is a subsidy of funds, which helps us attract more talent to the park and to fill those much-needed funds, but there's also the training aspect of it," said Kerry Lamarche of Kivi Park in Sudbury.

This round of the program runs until March 2024. Applications for employers and potential employees will be accepted until the program is full.