What skills do I need?
Tourism is a service industry that demands a high level of personal interaction and a high staff to client ratio. Labour is generally the most expensive cost in running any business and there is a tendency for new business operators to try to do as much of the business operation themselves.
In most tourism businesses it is unrealistic to imagine that you can run all operations yourself. Many operators call upon family members to help them through. If this is your strategy, then for the sake of family harmony it is advisable to clearly determine job descriptions or at least task jurisdictions, together with the hours of work required and the rate of pay.
The first task that should be done by a potential tourism operator is to objectively examine their own skills and experience, as well as those of key family members who will be working with them. This audit of skills will highlight which areas of the business operation may require outside assistance, either in the form of staff or specialist help.
Obtain information about conducting a skills and training audit .
Consultants can be expensive, but their help - particularly during the establishment phase of a business - can be invaluable. Your regional tourism office, Tourism Victoria or your particular industry association can provide names of experienced consultants for your consideration.
The skills audit will also highlight what training you, family members and staff may require to plug the skills gaps.
Obtain information from Module 2 about training available to the tourism industry.
You should also consider how your business will run in the event of prolonged illness or disability of a key member. Businesses highly reliant on one or two people or that have not planned for disruption are vulnerable to rapid downturn. Consider the need for ‘key person’ insurance and discuss this with your broker.
While it is difficult to nominate all skills that may be required to run the variety of tourism businesses, most operations will need to be able to cover the following general areas:
- Financial management, including compliance requirements, book keeping, including payroll, taxation, superannuation etc
- Personnel, including human resource management, an understanding of OH&S, workplace safety etc
- Business planning
- Marketing – planning, product development, advertising, sales, distribution, public relations/ publicity, research analysis and, increasingly, e-marketing
- Customer service