In the beginning of 2022, Destinations International outlined eight strategic issues and opportunities facing our sector for the year. Of the eight, we knew workforce disruption and development was especially important for the travel sector and critical for DMOs to address. To sustain future growth, our greatest currency will take the form of workforce development and opportunities that can attract new minds, families, and residents to our destinations. Failure to invest in talent acquisition means communities falling behind in building local visitor economies. 

As a starting point, we need to outline just how hard travel-related industries have been hit.  

• As of the latest BLS data release, the U.S. has lost 1.5 million leisure and hospitality jobs, representing 93% of all jobs lost since February 2020. 

We knew that to tackle this issue, we needed to provide the tools to enable our members to actively monitor and predict the recovery of the travel industry workforce. We are pleased to begin an expanded partnership with Tourism Economics and their Symphony platform with a dedicated module for Destination International members on workforce intelligence for their communities. Here is what is to come and what it will cover for your destination. 

As with every Symphony client, you obtain proprietary destination-specific data and analysis by Tourism Economics with monthly updates covering industry performance, economic trends, visitor intelligence, and DMO KPIs. Our partnership offers a new dedicated module focusing on workforce intelligence with proprietary data unavailable from any other source. 

Employment Trends and Analysis 

Exclusive wage and occupational analysis of your community’s workforce including Demographics, Job Openings and Quit rates, and Position analysis. 

Wage & Income Analysis 

Average and total income by industry subsector along with employment and average wages by major occupational groups (e.g. management, maintenance, sales, etc.).