Boston tourism & hospitality industry apprehends labour shortage ahead of busy season

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Boston is gearing up for its busiest tourism season in years, but many businesses are still struggling to find enough workers to meet the demand.

Governor Baker announced a new strategy last week to help businesses with hiring.The state’s HireNow programme is setting aside $50 million dollars in federal funds to help employers offer training and/or hiring bonuses to new employees.Businesses can receive up to $4,000 per worker.

Cindy Brown, CEO of Boston Duck Tours, is hoping it will help her find 20-25 drivers in the next two months.
“There’s a really big concern that we won’t have enough people for this year,” said Brown. “Unfortunately, that means we’ll have to run a smaller schedule.”

Boston Duck Tours kicks off its 29th season on Friday.

The company is offering a free ride to all licensed CDL drivers through the month of April.

“It will be a herculean effort to be able to hire 20 drivers in the next two months,” said Brown.

The looming worker shortage is being felt across Boston’s tourism and hospitality industry.

“It’s not just the service personnel and the frontline personnel that we’re having difficulty securing. It’s really across the board,” said Martha Sheridan, President and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Sheridan anticipates that Boston will be seeing a robust surge in visitors from mid-April through the fall.

She said a rush of leisure travelers, international visitors and city-wide conventions will be contributing to that.

“Our hotels, our restaurants and our attractions are doing everything they can to bring back their talented teams and to attract new talent,” explained Sheridan.

Sheridan believes many people who left the workforce in the hospitality sector have started new careers in other industries.

According to state officials, unfilled job openings in Massachusetts are up by more than 20 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

There are approximately 200,000 open jobs available across Massachusetts.

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