When the COVID-19 pandemic displaced thousands of hospitality workers, the Arizona Office of Tourism scrambled to help people find jobs at places like grocery stores and hospitals by connecting them with employers who needed their skill sets.
A year later, AOT Deputy Director Becky Blaine, who organized that effort to connect employees and employers, finds herself once again helping job hunters. This time, she wants to bring them back to the tourism industry.
“Now we’re finding, as you know, things are opening back up, there’s more consumer confidence happening. People are traveling again now that they’ve been vaccinated. We really have to ramp back up our tourism workforce across the state,” Blaine said.
She points to data collected by Longwoods International, a travel research consultant, showing 90 percent of travelers have travel plans in the next six months, the highest percentage since the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, she said some Arizona resorts are operating at reduced capacity due to a lack of staffing. A sellout evening might be 80% of rooms available instead of 100%.
To help Arizona tourism and hospitality businesses recruit talent, the AOT is working with Pipeline AZ and ARIZONA@WORK to connect employers with job seekers.
The effort will kick off with a June 23 virtual hiring event where job seekers can hear from companies about their opportunities. Job seekers also can create an online profile to receive custom-matched jobs and for employers to review.
“We really need to staff up now to handle not only the business we’re seeing at this point but getting back to a full 100%,” Blaine said, anticipating the return of business and convention travelers to the Valley.
These employers will be at the job fair
Some of the employers expected to participate are synonymous with the tourism industry, including Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott hotels.
But other employers might be a bit unexpected.
Arizona State Parks and Trails will be looking for new employees at the event. Positions include park rangers, park managers, assistant managers and entry-level positions.
“We have positions that are outdoors, that are dealing with the environment, dealing with protecting those resources and really getting to work with people who love the same things that you do,” Michelle Thompson, spokesperson for Arizona State Parks and Trails, said.
While visitors have flocked to state parks during the pandemic, it has sometimes been challenging to fill positions.
“A lot of our parks are in really rural areas of the state and so that can make it difficult to recruit and find people who may want to move, who may need to relocate or who may be in the smaller communities,” Thompson said.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community’s Talking Stick Entertainment District will represent 15 employers at the job fair, with opportunities ranging from internships at Butterfly Wonderland to positions at the lively Medieval Times, which is looking for performers, food servers and cashiers.
“We’re starting to see an uptick not only in visitation from locals but also inquiries from visitors outside of the Phoenix metro area, which means that job opportunities are going to be here,” Blessing McAnlis-Vasquez, tourism manager for the community, said.
She said across the board in the Talking Stick Entertainment District, capacity is still below 100% because of staffing issues.
“We’re hoping to connect with some really great people during this time,” she said.
How to attend the Arizona office of Tourism job fair
- The virtual event takes place online 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 23.
- Employers have until June 17 to register to participate.
- Job seekers can register until June 23.
- Information and registration details: https://tourism.pipelineaz.com/page/june23.
You can connect with Arizona Republic Consumer Travel Reporter Melissa Yeager through email at melissa.yeager@azcentral.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
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