Students excited at tourism's growth

BRIGHT FUTURE: Te Aroha Dehar (left) and Katrina Carpenter are pleased their chosen industry is forecast to grow 40 per cent. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

Rotorua's tourism students are excited their industry is expected to grow exponentially during the next 10 years.

Tourism Industry Association chief executive Chris Roberts said research, which forecast the tourism industry's labour market needs from 2014 to 2025, showed the Bay of Plenty was the third-largest region tipped for employment growth, expected to grow 40 per cent from 2014 to 2025.

Yesterday, at Trenz 2015, he said there would be a huge need for skilled hospitality and tourism workers throughout New Zealand.

"Some regions will require more workers than others. Regions like Auckland and Otago attract a large proportion of international visitors, driving localised labour demands higher."

He said Queenstown was already struggling to find labour.

Tourism New Zealand marketing director Andrew Fraser said there were exciting opportunities for Rotorua's tourism and hospitality staff.

"I think the exciting thing for the future, looking at careers in hospitality, as the industry grows it will offer a lot of opportunities for moving up into management.

"Overseas in more developed markets, hospitality offers real career opportunity. Looking forward, it [tourism] will provide more of a career opportunity for people here," Mr Fraser said.

Sir George Seymour campus manager Tarsha Ormsby said her students, some of whom were working at Trenz, were excited for their future.

"Rotorua is a great location for students. A lot of companies come directly to us because of the high-quality students we produce. We call them 'work ready'."