High-Impact Marketing to Tackle Tourism Labour Shortages

Imagine whole sections of hotels closed, attractions barely staffed, tours getting called off and employees stressed to the limit. When a shortage like this hits, it does much more than shrink revenue. The guest experience suffers, reputation takes a hit and entire communities feel the impact. This goes way beyond a staffing issue. At the heart of the problem, there’s a branding gap. With a smart marketing strategy, you can rebuild your workforce and give the industry new life. We help you get there.

1. Rethink Recruitment as a Brand Challenge

Your first move is to change the way you think about this problem. Labour shortages in tourism are bigger than HR. They are about brand perception. Too often, jobs in this field get framed as temporary or “filler” work. That reputation all but guarantees a lack of interest and burnout across teams.

Let’s turn that thinking on its head. Jobs in tourism develop real skills and open the door to advancement and purpose. Whether someone’s pouring coffee at a boutique property or running guided tours, they’re picking up strengths in teamwork, logistics, leadership, tech and more. These are skills that carry weight in any career.

You should treat recruitment as a top priority in your marketing, not a side project. It starts with knowing your future employees, defining your employer reputation and rolling out confident, eye-catching content, approaches highlighted in the Recruitment Marketing Blog. Strong research, powerful branding and content with substance help you break through the clutter.

Let’s offer more than a job listing. Your campaign should promise transformation, adventure, learning and room to grow. If applicants see tourism as a gateway to new experiences and skills, not just a temporary paycheque, more of them will come on board.

At the end of the day, building a strong, visible brand is how you encourage people to see this sector as a place where they can build something for themselves. That is how you fill roles and restore momentum.

2. Understand and Segment Every Talent Audience

Saying, “You just need more staff,” misses the mark. What you actually need are the right people for each job. So, your first step is mapping out the different types of candidates.

Think about everyone out there, a student hungry for real-world experience, a mid-career professional looking for a change, locals who want to stay close, newcomers searching for opportunity or even retirees who value flexible schedules. Throwing the same message at all of them won’t work.

The next level is breaking groups down by location, position and personal motivators. Students might be enticed by travel and growth. Retirees may prefer flexible hours. Newly arrived Canadians could be searching for workplaces where they feel supported. Digital research and audience profiling, as seen in the Recruitment Marketing Blog, show you where and how to reach each audience.

In practice, this looks like campus-specific marketing, special flexible shifts tailored for older workers or campaigns that highlight inclusion and mentorship for newcomers. When every message feels personal, it resonates and encourages action.

Effective segmentation is not just strategy. It results in a workforce that fits the needs and culture of your industry.

3. Shape a Powerful Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Attracting and keeping great employees takes more than a promise of a paycheque. Your EVP is the story you tell about why someone should choose you. What makes joining your team meaningful? In tourism, that often means adventure, learning, community and perks that go beyond the job.

You have lots to offer, so let’s talk about it: travel discounts, skill development, the chance to be part of a vibrant team, access to industry networks and a role that brings stories home every day. Test your messaging. Interview candidates and employees, survey the team and ask what really makes a difference to them. They may value flexibility, being close to community or the ability to get promoted quickly. Use that feedback to sharpen your message.

If myths and stereotypes are in the way, call them out and answer the questions no one is asking. Use examples like the Abilities MB DSP Recruitment Case Study to counter the idea that these aren’t “real” careers or that all the work is at the lowest entry level. Highlight pathways to leadership and skills that open doors everywhere.

Stories win hearts. A theme like “Tourism Can Take You There,” shown in the Tourism HR Case Study, illustrates how a single job can start a journey of personal or professional growth. Digital storytelling with emotion and honesty, as suggested in the Liberty University branding study, brings these messages to life.

A bold, honest EVP makes you unforgettable. Aim to inspire, not just inform.

4. Turn Your EVP Into a True Talent Brand

Just like any destination brand stands out, your employer brand should be just as visible. To get everyone moving in the same direction, you need a toolkit that makes your values clear and easy to share.

This might mean a recognizable logo, snappy tagline, colour palettes, consistent tone and adaptable templates. The Discover Tourism rebrand, seen in the Tourism HR Case Study, is proof that a shared set of assets multiplies your impact.

Your tools need to be at everyone’s fingertips, too. Build a resource hub with career pathways, editable job postings and authentic behind-the-scenes videos that any tourism partner can use right away. This turns brand standards from abstract ideas into daily tools.

When you approach this as a whole industry, promoting something like a “careers in tourism” badge that hotels, attractions and destinations can use, you amplify a clear message. Candidates know what you stand for, wherever they look.

The results are clear from Discover Tourism’s relaunch: millions of media impressions, earned coverage and more genuine jobseeker interest. Consistency and shared messaging pay off.

With a unified brand that’s easy for everyone to use, you get noticed and attract the workforce you’re after.

5. Show Up Everywhere With Real, Engaging Content

There’s no shortage of job ads clogging up websites, but most of them barely register. To make a difference, you show up in all the places your audiences spend time with stories that pull them in.

You share behind-the-scenes interviews, “day in the life” mini-docs, quick Instagram or TikTok clips, testimonials and live question sessions. Discover Tourism launched well over 100 pieces of content across channels. That is the pace and mix needed to stay top of mind.

Let real employees and even alumni do the talking. Unfiltered stories, video diaries and personal experiences build a kind of trust that polished ads never can. Candidates connect with staff who started in entry-level roles and grew into rewarding careers.

Give every partner easy-to-share job posts, social graphics and myth-busting explainers. This approach, mirrored in the Abilities MB DSP Recruitment Case Study, ensures that anyone in your network can help tell the story.

Drive home what actually matters to jobseekers: flexible work, tangible impact, new skills and room to grow. Let’s make it clear that tourism isn’t just a job. It’s a launchpad.

Don’t underestimate the power of new formats. Short videos, working with influencers and local community spotlights, backed by the Liberty University study, get real emotional engagement and more applications.

With every channel filled with authentic content, perceptions start to shift in your favour.

6. Make Employers and Partners Part of the Campaign

Most tourism organizations don’t have piles of extra resources. If you want to move quickly and grow together, recruitment assets have to be easy to use from day one.

That’s where plug-and-play toolkits come in: ready-to-fill job post templates, professional social media visuals, short FAQs and script outlines for quick videos. No need for anyone to start from scratch.

We also support your team with bite-sized webinars, checklists and practical guides. Frontline managers and recruiters should be able to polish up their skills in minutes, not hours.

Celebrate what works. When operators run creative campaigns or get strong results, let’s highlight them and share their successes. Make best practices visible to inspire others.

Most importantly, build a sense of shared purpose. Encourage everyone to swap tips and stories, creating a genuine support network.

This collaborative strategy goes beyond wishful thinking. The Abilities MB DSP Recruitment Case Study proved that when everyone taps into shared messages and tools, reach multiplies fast.

Make it easy, make it accessible and watch your recruitment efforts gain real momentum.

7. Let Data Guide You and Keep Experimenting

A good campaign doesn’t stay static. We approach recruitment marketing just like guest-focused campaigns: track, test and improve all the time.

We monitor everything from how many people see and click your posts to which videos hold attention and which messages earn the most positive feedback. We run surveys and keep our ears open for shifts in what prospective employees care about.

If a student-focused campaign falls flat while career changers are engaging, we switch gears. We keep the winners and adjust or drop what doesn’t work. Agility is essential. Talent markets change fast.

This approach is proven in the Tourism HR Case Study. Real-time feedback shaped creative content and channel selection, delivering better results with every campaign tweak.

It helps to look at what public sector investments accomplish too, resources like the EDA case study show that data-backed workforce programs pay off.

Build your campaign, measure its pulse and improve consistently. The best recruitment is always evolving.

8. Make Work Better Through Social Upgrading

Attracting more people isn’t enough if the jobs themselves don’t measure up. Raising standards across your sector is the long game for attracting and keeping great staff.

That means better pay, stable hours, benefits that make a difference and clear paths for advancement. Research proves it, raising job quality leads to higher retention and happier employees (China tourism employee study).

Let’s push for sector-wide improvements, like more accessible housing, transparent credentialing and visible career ladders. Prioritizing your workforce should matter as much as prioritizing guest services or sustainability.

Share stories that show progress: employers spotlighting career growth, balancing work and life and making a difference in their communities. When employees talk about how tourism gave them a bright future, other candidates take notice.

Marketing should highlight real improvement, not just open roles. When people see that the sector values wellbeing and growth, they’ll be more likely to come and stay.

The best solutions always bring together marketing and a real investment in people.

Wrapping Up

Tourism’s labour challenges aren’t just about having too few people on the job. At their root, these are branding and marketing problems. The way forward is building a strong employer value proposition, sharing authentic stories, putting easy-to-use resources in the hands of every partner and always learning from the data.

These approaches have delivered results, just look at resources like the Tourism HR Case Study, Recruitment Marketing Blog and Abilities MB DSP Recruitment Case Study for specifics.

It’s time to bring the same creativity and passion you show to your guests into how you market your workforce opportunities. Change starts right here. Let’s build the talent brand your destinations and your communities need.

FAQ