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Delegates from across Canada and abroad gathered at the Delta Centre-Ville in Montreal last week for the 8th annual Tourism HR Forum. The opening reception featured very entertaining welcoming remarks from Charles Lapointe, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourisme Montréal and Adele Girard, Directrice Générale, Le Conseil québécois des ressources humaines en tourisme (CQRHT). Delegates were entertained by a stellar jazz trio as they celebrated the beginning of this year’s forum. This year’s event saw the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) merge its annual event with the highly successful event held each year by CQRHT.
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On October 23, 2009, CTHRC attended a meeting of the Ontario Canadian Academy of Travel & Tourism (CATT) teachers hosted by OTEC at its office in Toronto. The CTHRC was able to get feedback from most Ontario CATT schools and introduce them to several initiatives undertaken by both the CATT program and OTEC. This was also an ideal opportunity to introduce new CATT teachers to those with more Academy experience.
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Niagara Falls’ Great Wolf Lodge took home the top prize for Human Resource Development at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada’s Tourism Leadership Summit. The award, presented by Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) Vice President, Products and Partnerships Vince Accardi, recognizes a business that has demonstrated a commitment to professionalism in the Canadian tourism workforce through professional recognition, training, and excellence in human resource management. An award-winning property known for fun family experiences, Great Wolf Lodge is passionate about creating a great place to work. Its team focuses not only on recruitment and retention, but also encouraging staff – called pack members – to grow and advance.
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From September 1st to 6th, CTHRC and TIAPEI represented emerit at World Skills 2009 in Calgary, Alberta. Over 900 individuals competed simultaneously in 45 skill categories during the four days of intense competition at Stampede Park. Hailed as the pinnacle of global skills, trades, and technologies competition, this biennial event promotes excellence and global competency industry standards. Competitions range from robotics to web design, welding to cooking, and auto-body repair to restaurant services. This year’s event hosted over 120,000 visitors and delegates from around the world, including industry leaders, educators, government officials, and educational experts. Overall, Team Canada competitors won eight medals, including a gold in Restaurant Service for Pierre-Luc Coté from Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec.
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The overall unemployment rate in the tourism sector was 7.5% in August 2009, below the national average of 8.7%. Since October 2008, overall employment in Canada has declined by 387,000 jobs. However, more than 92% of these jobs were lost between November and March. Over the past five months, employment has fallen by just 31,000 jobs. Notwithstanding this positive trend, the 2009 summer labour market was one of the most challenging for students aged 15 to 24. Their average unemployment rate reached 19.2% over the summer months, the second highest rate since comparable data became available in 1977. Within the tourism industry groups, the food and beverage services labour force saw the highest level of unemployment in August (9.0%), though employment within “drinking places” was up slightly compared to the same month last year. With an unemployment rate of 7.6%, the accommodations industry group also continues to be affected by job losses.
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Registration is now open for the 8th Annual Tourism HR Forum. This growing national event will take place at Montreal’s Delta Centre-Ville hotel from November 23rd to 25th, 2009. The HR Forum has become a “must go” event for anyone involved in managing and developing people for the tourism sector - executives, managers, corporate trainers, educators, and association representatives. Titled On Your Mark! Get Set! Change!, this year’s event addresses significant human resource concerns currently facing the tourism sector. Register online for our special one-time reduced rate of $295.00 plus taxes. Check out additional tickets for a shopping excursion, sightseeing tour, or dinner celebration! Visit cthrc.ca/hrforum.
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From July 26 to 29, 2009, CTHRC attended a meeting of the Global Travel & Tourism Partnership (GTTP) programs in Brussels, Belgium. The Council’s Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism is a member of the GTTP. Country directors from Ireland, the UK, Jamaica, South Africa, Hungary, Russia, Kenya, and Brazil were also present, providing an opportunity to learn about programs around the globe and the strategies they use to increase their participation in GTTP programming. This was also a chance to reflect on current methods of teacher training and student engagement, leading to a renewed focus on engaging students to participate in GTTP programs and on the development of online training content for new tourism teachers.
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The CTHRC continues to provide the tourism sector with the most up-to-date compensation data, now available in the newly released 2008 Canadian Tourism Sector Compensation Study. Produced with the assistance of the Hay Group, the study provides an analysis of compensation, benefits, and salary/wage data for 33 different occupations, from frontline to senior management, in four tourism industries: Food and Beverage, Accommodations, Recreation and Entertainment, and, for the first time, Travel Services. Data was received from more than 2,000 tourism organizations representing 76,195 incumbents.
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On May 14th and 15th, 2009, CTHRC and MTEC exhibited at the 2009 Canadian Association of Principals Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The organizations interacted with high school principals from across the country and made several other valuable contacts with fellow exhibitors at the event. Attendees were interested in the CATT program, and several elementary, middle, and high school principals were interested in Discover Tourism for career exploration classes.
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On April 27 and 28, CTHRC and OTEC exhibited at the Ontario Cooperative Education Association spring conference. The conference was very well attended and there was a great deal of traffic in the exhibitor area. Representatives were able to interact with teachers and provide them with information on the CATT program, Discover Tourism, emerit products, and OTEC initiatives.
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