Staffing levels have largely rebounded for tour operators after a tumultuous two years that saw workforce challenges threaten operations and, at times, the delivery of quality service.
An annual USTOA survey found that 86% of active members increased their staffing levels in 2023, with 48% of that total filling at least one to 10 open positions and 22% filling between 51 to 100 positions last year.
This year, 63% of USTOA suppliers say they plan to increase staff, with many (59%) planning to fill between one and 10 positions, while about 35% of suppliers plan to maintain their current staffing levels.
Similarly, a year-end survey of National Tour Association (NTA) members found that 43% of tour operators and 61% of destination management organizations reported having 100% or more of the employees they had in 2019 last year.
"This was a particularly large challenge faced across the entire tourism industry last year," said Jeff Roy, executive vice president of revenue management, pricing and worldwide operations for Collette. He is also on the USTOA executive committee. "While we're still facing some challenges, this shift shows that members have been able to adapt and find solutions."
Industry experts say tighter budgets have hindered some tour operators' efforts to restore staffing numbers since the pandemic, resulting in reduced services.
The NTA said that some of its members are still recovering financially from losses incurred in 2020 and 2021 and don't have the budgets to pay the higher wages that more qualified applicants are seeking since the pandemic.
"Another challenge has been the elevation of salaries within and outside the hospitality industry," said NTA president Catherine Prather. "Suppliers find themselves competing for qualified candidates who can pick from several job offers. And those new hires can be just as difficult to retain, as some are lured away by higher pay or better career opportunities."
The demand for better pay is likely not going away anytime soon.
TripSchool, a training resource that helps connect tour operators with tour guides, said guides and other travel industry workers have a deeper sense of their value following the pandemic, and that, coupled with smaller pools of qualified candidates available to suppliers, provides them the leverage needed to demand better pay.
"New hires understand that supply is short, and they're asking for higher wages and salary guarantees than have been paid in the past," said Mitch Bach, co-founder of TripSchool. "Overall guide wages haven't kept up with inflation, so I see this as a good thing for guides, but it does stress operators who are also struggling with costs."
Staffing levels have been an issue across travel. According to U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman, the private travel sector in general has alleviated much of the shortfall it faced over the past few years. The same cannot be said, however, at the federal level.
For example, while airlines have made significant gains when it comes to replenishing staff, hiring upward of 50,000 employees in the past couple of years, he said, the FAA still has a shortfall of 1,200 air traffic controllers.
"I think the biggest workforce concerns today are really about pilots and air traffic control, about the ability to run the system," he said. "That's where the federal government is playing a leading role. And not doing so in a winning way."
Much of the success tour operators have found in replenishing staffing levels is owed to a few creative tactics suppliers devised as they searched for candidates.
TootBus, a city sightseeing day tour operator based in London, said it overhauled its recruitment strategy by digitizing the process and creating a candidate relationship management platform, similar to a CRM tool for travelers, in addition to reworking its tour guide training program.
The Travel Corporation implemented a remote work policy that enables part of its workforce to work from anywhere for two weeks a year. It reports an overwhelmingly positive response, particularly among workers 25 and younger.
But even more important than creative recruitment strategies are the ways in which suppliers have adapted to the changing needs of a post-pandemic workforce that emerged from a global public health crisis with new priorities, demand for better wages and more value placed on upward mobility within a company.
"It's important for us in hospitality to recognize that it's not only about salary and benefits but also about career pathing," said the NTA's Prather. "We need to offer competitive wages not only for a person's first job but also for their second, third or fourth position within the company or industry. We must provide competitive wages, training and a pathway to grow in order to retain our talent."
Johanna Jainchill contributed to this report.