TIABC Voice of Tourism Newsletter – May 1, 2026

I love education. I love everything about it. From being the one in the classroom absorbing new ideas to standing at the front of the room helping others connect the dots. I genuinely love it all.

My parents would absolutely confirm this lifelong love affair with education, particularly after agreeing to fund my 12 years of university. That is not a typo – yes, 12. I pivoted, explored and I followed curiosity wherever it led me.

And somewhere along the way, I earned an education degree and taught school for several years. That experience shaped me more than I realized at the time. Teaching forces clarity. It demands patience and reminds you that people grow at different paces and in different directions.

Later, I worked alongside industry and post-secondary institutions promoting career opportunities in the skilled trades. That role deepened my understanding of how critical it is to help people discover their passions while simultaneously filling the jobs our province depends on. When those two things align, something powerful happens. People thrive. Industries thrive.

Which brings me to today. Across BC, tourism and hospitality job gaps are in the tens of thousands. The situation has been compounded by restrictions on international students and temporary foreign workers, both of whom have historically played an important role in supporting the sector’s workforce needs.

But there is another trend emerging that should concern all of us. We are seeing reductions, and in some cases closures, of much-needed tourism and hospitality programs within our post-secondary institutions. This is alarming on a couple of levels.

First, we are already experiencing employee shortages that are inhibiting business growth. Some operators cannot expand because they can’t staff appropriately. In other cases, investment into new tourism projects stalls because workforce capacity is uncertain. Limiting training pathways at the same time demand is increasing feels counterintuitive.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, we are limiting opportunities for people. Especially young people. We are reducing access to careers that are not only personally rewarding but are also financially viable.

Tourism is not a placeholder between high school and a “real” job. It is the real job. It is an industry that spans marketing, finance, culinary arts, event management, outdoor recreation, sustainability, Indigenous tourism development, operations, entrepreneurship, technology, and executive leadership.

Now, before we draw overly simplistic conclusions, there is absolutely a correlation between international student enrollment and the viability of certain programs. Funding models, enrollment numbers and policy all matter, but there is also a communication gap.

Somewhere along the way, we have not told the tourism career story loudly or clearly enough. We have not consistently communicated that tourism and hospitality are professional pathways with long-term potential. We have not always showcased the leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, and earning potential within the sector.

For an industry that contributes roughly $8 billion annually to BC’s GDP, we cannot afford to treat workforce development as an afterthought.

We need to get the message out. All of us in this industry have a role to play. Operators. Associations. Educators. Government. We need to share compelling stories about people who have built meaningful, financially stable, and inspiring careers in tourism. We need to support post-secondary institutions that are training the next generation of leaders. We need to ensure programs are aligned with industry realities and that students see clear pathways from classroom to career.

People are the backbone of tourism. Not buildings. Not brochures. Not branding campaigns.

If we care about the future of this sector, we must care about the people entering it. We must protect and strengthen the educational pathways that prepare them. And we must stop underselling an industry that powers communities across this province.

Education opened doors for me. It shaped my career in ways I could not have predicted at the time.

The question now is whether we are creating the same doors for the next generation.

Amber Papou, B.Ed, MBA, ICD.D

CEO, TIABC