CTHRC Releases Industry Group Summaries from the Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees Report

July 20 2010

The Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council is pleased to announce the release of industry group summaries from the report Who’s Working For You: A Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees. The report uses customized census, labour force survey, and business register data to provide employment statistics for each of the industry groups included in the tourism sector: accommodation, food and beverage services, transportation, recreation and entertainment, and travel services. This edition of the report uses specialized tabulations from the 2006 Census to create demographic profiles of the Canadian labour force for the five tourism industry groups, and for 38 specific tourism occupations.

The industry group summaries from the Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees report provide specific labour market information for each of the five tourism industry groups in Canada. Highlights of the industry group summaries include:

In 2006, the food and beverage services industry was the largest tourism industry group, with a labour force of 793,380 employees, accounting for 47.9% of total tourism sector employment. It was also the youngest group; 48.1% of food and beverage services employees were under the age of 25.
The accommodations industry group employed a larger proportion of women (61.4%) than the tourism sector (52.3%) or the Canadian labour force as a whole (47.4%).
People working in the recreation and entertainment industry group were almost twice as likely to hold a university certificate or degree (22.7%) than those in the tourism sector labour force as a whole (12.3%).
With over half (53.5%) of the transportation industry labour force aged 45 years and older, this industry group will be challenged by the large share of workers who will reach retirement age in the near future.
Travel services is the smallest tourism industry group in Canada, representing 2.9% of total tourism sector employment. This industry group has a higher proportion of workers born outside of Canada (33.6%) than the tourism sector (23.7%) and the Canadian labour force as a whole (22.1%).

Whether you are a researcher, educator, or running a tourism business, a good understanding of the realities of the tourism labour force in your industry group is essential for policy-making, education and training, and informed human resource planning. The detailed information in the industry group summaries from the Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees report will give employers hard data on the labour force in their industry group, allowing them to adjust their recruiting and human resource practices to attract and retain the right people for their operation. Employees and job seekers can use the report to identify areas of opportunity in the five industry groups within the tourism sector, and to compare the labour market in their area of interest to that of the other tourism industry groups across Canada.

Who’s Working For You: A Demographic Profile of Tourism Sector Employees is available free of charge on the Collaboration Portal of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council website. To access the complete report, join our online community today at

https://secure.cthrc.ca/cthrc/en/login/register.aspx.

The industry group summaries of the report are also available on the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council website at:

http://cthrc.ca/en/research_publications/labour_market_information/total_tourism_sector_employment.aspx