Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council 1. Canada s Tourism Sector A Snapshot 2

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1 Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council 1 Canada s Tourism Sector A Snapshot 2 Sector Components The tourism sector consists of five component industry groups: Food and beverage services Transportation Accommodation Recreation and entertainment Travel services Figure 1: Employment in Tourism Industry Groups (2006) (employed labour force) % 2.9% 16.4% 47.9% Food and beverage services Recreation and entertainment Transportation Accommodations Travel services n = 1.66 million 21.7% 1 The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) is a national organization that facilitates and coordinates human resources development activities which support a globally competitive and sustainable Canadian tourism sector. 2 The data that the CTHRC gets from Statistics Canada groups individuals who have completed an apprenticeship with individuals who hold a college degree, CEGEP, or other postsecondary education below the university level. Therefore, specific information on apprentices in the tourism sector was unavailable for inclusion in this Snapshot. 3 Canadian Census Customized tabulations. 1

2 Economic contribution Canada s tourism sector is a large and dynamic contributor to the nation s economy. In 2009, tourism spending in Canada reached $69.5 billion and the sector s contribution to Canada s GDP was 2.1%. 4 Employment Tourism in Canada offers unique experiences, interesting attractions, five-star accommodations and superb amenities. However, if there are no employees to provide these services and operate the facilities, the tourism sector will not be sustainable. Last year, the tourism sector in Canada accounted for 1.6 million jobs, which represents 9.4% of all jobs in Canada. Of these jobs, almost onethird were directly attributable to spending by domestic and foreign tourists. 5 The remaining two thirds are attributable to spending by local residents, who do not meet the definition of tourist. While the tourism industry groups would continue to exist at a reduced capacity in the absence of tourism, some industry groups receive a significant amount of business from local residents. This is true of the food and beverage services and recreation and entertainment industry groups in particular. Occupations There is a wide range of occupations that make up the tourism sector. Some of these occupations are easily associated with the tourism sector, such as hotel front desk clerk. Others are occupations in various sectors, including tourism, such as human resource manager or cashier. The food and beverage services industry group accounts for more than half of all tourism jobs, followed by recreation and entertainment, and accommodations. Not surprisingly, the four occupations employing the largest numbers of tourism workers were those associated with food and beverage services. Food counter attendants and kitchen helpers accounted for 15% of all tourism employment, followed by food and beverage servers (12%), cooks (9%), and restaurant and food service managers (5%). 6 4 Statistics Canada, National Tourism Indicators Quarterly Estimates First Quarter 2010, Catalogue no X, June Statistics Canada, Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2009, Catalogue no M, no. 66, May Idem. 2

3 The most common occupations in each industry group are as follows: 7 Food and beverage services: food counter attendants and kitchen helpers, food and beverage servers, cooks, restaurant and food service managers, cashiers, and bartenders. Transportation: bus drivers and subway and other transit operators; taxi and limousine drivers and chauffeurs; air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors; pursers and flight attendants; airline sales and service agents; and transportation managers. Accommodation: light duty cleaners; accommodation service managers; hotel front desk clerks; food and beverage servers; janitors, caretakers and building superintendents; and food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related occupations. Recreation and entertainment: program leaders and instructors in recreation and sport; casino occupations; landscaping and grounds maintenance labourers; operators and attendants in amusement, recreation and sport; retail salespersons and sales clerks; and technical occupations related to museums and art galleries. Travel services: travel counsellors and tour and travel guides. Business size There are approximately 178,000 businesses in the sector that not only provide services for tourists, but also for locals who use neighbourhood restaurants and entertainment venues. More than three quarters (77%) of tourism sector businesses that provided Canadian Business Register reporting 8 indicated they had less than 20 employees, and another 21% employed 20 to 99 people. 9 Business activity Business Registry data reveals that small enterprises are more prevalent in entertainment industries relating to independent artists, in accommodation industries such as inns, motels, campgrounds and housekeeping cottages, and in taxi and limousine services. In contrast, there are significantly fewer small 7 Full demographic summaries are available on the CTHRC website: ment.aspx. 8 The reporting level is based on taxation files, so if many enterprise locations file their taxes through a centralized head office, it is counted as one business. If all locations file separately, they are counted as such. 9 Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Patterns, Location Counts, December Customized tabulations. 3

4 enterprises in passenger rail, charter bus, and scheduled air transportation, in hotels and resorts, and in recreation and entertainment businesses such as skiing facilities, theme parks, and golf courses. Regional representation According to the latest Census, the largest proportion of tourism sector employment was in Ontario (37.6%), followed by Quebec (22.0%) and British Columbia (16.4%). Of Canada s main census metropolitan areas, Toronto accounts for the largest proportion of tourism employment overall and within each industry group. 10 Figure 2: Total Tourism Sector Employment by Province, 2006 (employed labour force) % 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% 1.1% 0.4% 2.6% 1.9% 22.0% 37.6% 3.6% 2.8% 11.2% 16.4% Summary of Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council Labour Market Information When compared to the overall Canadian labour force, tourism is a sector dominated by young workers. In 2006, workers between the ages of 15 and Canadian Census Customized tabulations. 11 Canadian Census Customized tabulations. 4

5 represented 15% of Canada s labour force, but one third of the tourism labour force. Furthermore, 18% of tourism employees were between the ages of 25 and 34 years. Notable standouts bucking this trend were the transportation and travel services industry groups, with just 5% and 12% of their respective labour forces in the 15 to 24 age range. Transportation in particular was dominated by older workers, being the only industry group to have the majority (54%) of its workers aged 45 and older. Food and beverage services employed the youngest labour force with almost half (48%) of its labour force aged 24 or younger. Most occupations within the accommodations and recreation and entertainment industries also employed a higher percentage of young people than the Canadian labour force as a whole. Despite the fact that tourism may still be considered a young industry in terms of the people it employs, the number of older workers is increasing. For example, the proportion of people working in accommodations who were 45 years or older increased by 9% since For the sector as a whole, the number of older workers increased by 4% between 2001 and In 2006, the tourism sector was comprised of 48% males and 52% females. The accommodations and food and beverage services industries employed larger proportions of female workers, at 61% and 60% respectively. The gap was even greater in the travel services industry where 70% of workers were female. At the other end of the spectrum was the transportation industry group, which had a predominantly male workforce (72%). Within transportation, school and employee bus transportation was the only industry that employed a greater share of women than men. Unlike the other industry groups, gender distribution in recreation and entertainment mirrored the overall labour force. Equity groups 12 were better represented in the tourism sector labour force (41%) than the overall Canadian economy (35%). Within the industry groups, travel services had the highest percentage of its workforce born outside of Canada (33%) as well as the highest percentage of workers whose mother tongue is neither English nor French (28%). Food and beverage services had the largest share of visible minorities (28%). Overall, the seasonal nature of the tourism sector can be seen in its employment patterns. The sector (48%) employed fewer people in full-year positions than the 12 In this context, equity groups refers to three of the four groups included in the Employment Equity Act of Canada (visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and disabled persons); it does not refer to one of the four groups (women) because that group is addressed in a separate section. 5

6 Canadian economy (62%). Although part-time jobs were prevalent in the sector (39%), more than six in ten (61%) tourism employees worked full time. There was great variability in the work patterns of each industry group. For example, the transportation and travel services industries were most likely to employ people on a full-time/full-year basis (57% and 53% respectively), while businesses within the recreation and entertainment group were most likely to employ workers on a seasonal basis (58%). Within the industry groups, food and beverage service providers were more likely to employ workers year-round on a part-time basis (16%). 6