Hospitality Business Magazine

This week, from 11 – 13 May in Christchurch, Go with Tourism will kickstart New Zealand’s only free, dedicated careers expo for the tourism and hospitality industry, hoping to inspire a new generation of tourism and hospitality workers.

The expo, in partnership with New Zealand Careers Expo, will then move on to six more cities around the country: Palmerston North, Napier, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

With industry professionals, employers and educators onsite, students and jobseekers will discover a wide range of opportunities available, such as work experience, mentorships, job vacancies and tertiary study.

As well as showcasing career pathways, the main objective of the expo is to change negative perceptions about tourism and hospitality work. Go with Tourism Programme Director, Heidi Gillingham, says that the 2023 expo season will be the most important yet for achieving this.

“Covid hit our industry hard. 90,000 employees were displaced, job security was in doubt, and we’ve experienced a massive skills shortage since. With international travel back to normal in New Zealand – and heading towards pre-Covid numbers again – it’s crucial to attract talent back into our industry to meet visitor demand.

“Additionally, due to the opportunity to engage with younger learners, we hope to see an increase in students choosing Tourism at NCEA level in the future, as a result. We want to help parents and students understand why the industry is so important to New Zealand – from building our economy to championing our culture.”

In 2022, the Go with Tourism Expo saw 28,667 people walk through the doors and Gillingham believes 2023 will be a busier year. “This year will be our first expo season not limited by pandemic restrictions, so we hope to welcome more visitors than ever before to discover the wide range of career and study opportunities available in tourism and hospitality.”

To find out more information on the Go with Tourism Expo, go to: gowithtourism.co.nz/expo