Hospitality & Tourism
Tourism, directly and indirectly, supports around 33 600 jobs in Tasmania or about 13.0 percent of total Tasmanian employment-higher than the national average and the highest in the country (Tourism Tasmania, 2022)
Hospitality & Tourism
Industry Overview
Hospitality and tourism is vital to Tasmania’s economic sustainability (Department of State Growth, 2016) and includes businesses:
- Cafes, restaurants, and takeaway food
- Accommodation
- Tourism experiences
In 2020/2021, the total tourism and hospitality sales in Tasmania was $2581.8m, the total value added was $1319.9 million (State Growth Tasmania, 2019). Despite this Tasmania’s hospitality has smaller businesses employing locals, and has more seasonal businesses.
This sector continues to experience significant growth due to the increasing demand driven by the visitor economy. Current and projected growth in this industry indicates that employment in tourism and hospitality will increase. It is projected that by 2023, an additional 900 jobs will be created (Skills Tasmania, 2019).
Industry Peak Bodies
- Tasmanian Hospitality Association – THA provides support in many ways – from mental health resources, training resources, to support in knowing your rights at work.
- Tourism Industry Council Tasmania – The TICT provides research, accreditation, industry support, and events to further your knowledge within the industry.
- Women in Tourism and Hospitality – WITHTas is an organization supporting women within the tourism and hospitality sector.
Industry Awareness
- Tourism Tasmania has a fast facts sheet that outlines tourism’s impact on the Tasmanian economy
- Tasmania Visitor Economy Strategy – this website provides detail about the direction and plans of the Tourism industry in Tasmania.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Qualifications
Qualifications
Vocational Education and Training (VET) can prepare you for a specific position.
Registered training organisations (RTOs) such as TasTAFE and other RTOs offer courses such as:
- Certificate II in Kitchen Operations
- Certificate III in Tourism, Commercial Cookery, Guiding, Hospitality
- Barista Training
‘On the job’ training can lead to learning other positions within the business, and create pathways to different job categories within the industry.
- Hospitality Workers e.g. waitperson, bar attendant, baristas, café worker.
- Food Preparation and Trades: kitchen hand, chef, fast food cook, cook.
- Managers: café, restaurant, hotel / motel /hostel managers, conference and event organizers, licensed club manager.
- Accommodation workers: housekeeper, cleaning.
- Tourism jobs: Tour guide, and/or adventure guides.
Pathways
The Tasmanian Hospitality Association illustrates career pathways where people with front-of-house jobs can develop skills to move into other positions.
For example:
- A food and beverage attendant can upskills for cocktails/ bartending/ barista work, and grow into a supervisor or manager.
- A sommelier may grow to manage wine events, and learn about marketing and get a job as marketing manager.
- A bar director may move to be a business owner, and then take business skills to a larger business in a learning and development position within human resources.
Back-of-house jobs can lead to other job categories within the business.
- Operational positions:
- Sales and marketing positions:
- Human resources and finances:
Migrants who bring other career experiences can function both front and back of house. This can be an asset for business continuity in Tasmania’s small tourism and hospitality businesses rely on staff with ‘all rounder’ skills.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Career Development
Industry Training
- A Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) is needed to work in any establishment that serves and sells alcohol.
- There are a number of online options. EOT and Access all areas provide online courses that are certified Nationally Recognised Training and valid for work in Tasmania along with a few other states.
- RSA Hobart provides in-person training for a number of short courses including RSA, food safety, and barista skills
Self-directed learning
- Kenvale also has a 9-question quiz to help you discover what type of hospitality and tourism work would be best suited to you
Career skills
- Tourism Tasmania has an Industry training professional development page that lists links for webinars and other subscriptions that can be helpful for career development.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Networking
These are Tasmanian Hospitality and Tourism bodies to follow and interact with on LinkedIn.
Subscriptions
- Become a member of the Tasmanian Hospitality Association and get tips on recruitment, industry standards, and career development.
- Subscribe to the Tourism Tasmania newsletter for the latest information on Tourism in Tasmania.
- Sign up for Discover Tasmania’s newsletter to learn about new events and places to visit in Tasmania.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
What Employers Want
Job advertisements highlight these skills:
- Experience handling cash registers and accepting various forms of payment
- Strong social skills: friendly and welcoming
- Ability to work in a team
- Strong customer service skills
- Good fitness level
- Good work ethic (hard-working)
- Comfortable with public speaking
- Strong organizational skills
- Good communication skills
Potential Interview questions to prepare for:
- Which of the following statements best describes your right to work in Australia?
- Do you have customer service experience?
- Do you have a current Australian driver’s license?
- How many years of experience do you have in the hospitality & tourism industry?
- Can you demonstrate knowledge about the particular company (what they sell) that you are applying to work for?
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Finding Jobs in Tasmania
In-person
- Visit cafes, restaurants, and retail locations in person in a quieter period of the day.
- Introduce yourself, ask if they need staff, and how and when it’s best to speak with the manager.
- Tourism and hospitality rely on good customer service which is related to strong social and interpersonal skills – every interaction with every staff member forms part of your interview.
- Have your resume ready should they prefer to take applications in person.
Online
- Job search engines such as Jora, SEEK, indeed
- Pinnacle People Hobart offers permanent and temporary roles in hospitality from entry-level through to experienced.
- Searson Buck Group is a Tasmanian-based employment agency that works with local employers to secure the right people for their jobs.
Activate your network
- Find out who in your network works in the industry, or who knows someone that does. Ask for recommendation or an informational interview.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Job Seeker Tips
Responsible Service of Alcohol
- An RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certificate allows you to serve alcohol legally in the tourism and hospitality industry. Without it is illegal to serve alcohol resulting in a large fine. To ensure that you can work as soon as you are hired, it is helpful to have completed your RSA first.
Coffee (barista) skills
- Café and restaurant jobs usually sell coffee. Some cafes will even ask you to make a coffee as part of your interview. Experience in making and serving coffee can increase your opportunities in finding work in cafes and restaurants.
Do your homework
- Research the company and products/ services
- For example, if you are applying for a job at a café that is known for its coffee, it may be useful to take the time to learn about the coffee beans they use and know why their coffee is well known.
- Likewise, at a restaurant, you may want to take some time learning about their popular dishes or what is on their menu.
- At a retail shop, you may want to learn about their brand or best-selling product.
- If you are applying for a job as a tour guide or an adventure guide, having knowledge of the places you will be guided in as well as about the flora and fauna of those areas will help you interview well.
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Acknowledgements
The Migrant Network acknowledges the invaluable input from industry.
“The professional and industry meet up is quite practical and useful for us, especially for the beginner migrants in Australia” Skilled migrant, 04 May 2021.
Tell us what you think
About MRC Tas
Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania (MRC Tas) is a not-for-profit organisation that has been supporting people from migrant and humanitarian backgrounds to settle successfully in Tasmania since 1979.
MRC Tas
Linkedin
Facebook-f
Globe
Soundcloud
About Migrant network tasmania
Migrant Network Tasmania draws on the goodwill, stories and tips of migrants and the wider community to help fellow migrants to establish lives and careers in Tasmania.