Hi Bill,
Read your piece in today’s paper. As a year round business that operates like a small village on our own, White Point continues to be challenged to find staffing to fill our jobs. Annually we are posting growth and turning away business, year-round due to lack of human resources to satisfy demand is an unanticipated reality for us.
As an independent operation, over the last 25 years and on the eve of our 90th anniversary, we have worked to build a year-round destination with more than 160 employees. Our impact on the local economy directly through payroll, purchases, and sales channels for artists and experience providers is only shadowed by the spending of the nearly 48,000 guests we welcome 365 days a year.
Developing, marketing and converting more business outside of the 8wks of summer is the only way the ‘tourism’ sector can effectively contribute to attaining $4B by 2024 goal as set forth One Nova Scotia. In doing so, we also strengthen full time, year round jobs – but then we can’t find people to fill the jobs… an unimaginable conundrum. Filling ferries, airplanes and vehicles as modes to access us, year round exists.
Armed with 61 jobs available, after years of traditional means to ‘advertise’ jobs, we turned to social media to assist in generating applications. Our Feb 25 announcement with a picture listing the jobs netted us a couple dozen applications – a far cry from the 61 needed.
Businesses on the South Shore are actively ‘stealing’ employees from each other with teasing of small increases in wages. Our pool of potential employees is in need of an infusion of potential employees – from outside the South Shore, and it’s can’t be simply from other areas of Nova Scotia as other like us share our challenge. We need a ‘people transfusion’ from other parts of Canada, and beyond.
Out of frustration in hearing the challenges of or Engineering Team in not being able to find a Propane Tech to hire, our Chef unable to find Pastry or Line Cooks, to our F & B Manager unable to find hosts, guest services, bar and wait staff – and then hearing the same challenges expressed by Emily Turpin at Boxing Rock Brewery, Barry Tomalin at Jaspro Services – I kicked off a small effort in hopes it will at least raise awareness and generate some applications in the creation of a *WANTED* Campaign.
In the spirit of what I call co-opitition, cooperating with our competitors to work towards a common goal, in this case – grow the pool of possible applicants and attract new people to the south shore to live, play and work.
Not expecting miracles, but to do nothing is not an option. The 13 companies, organizations and even one municipality accepted my invitation to send along the jobs they had to add to our 61, the resulting list of more than 180 clearly demonstrates a need, with fingers and toes crossed, I’m hoping we’ll see positive results.
Success will come with more challenges in rural NS, I’m now turning attention to affordable housing for employees.
Oh my, I apologize for my lengthy note – thanks for letting me get it off my chest 🙂
I love Nova Scotia, and love sharing it with guests and Nova Scotians, and positively contributing to the economy in our small way here at the beach at White Point Beach Resort,
This whole “cruise ship” tourism is another “red herring” part of the tourism economy . It also shows how all levels of government are really not making good business decisions and even worse tourism “investments” . It also shows where the so called “NS tourism corporation” is not really acting as a “business” as there is really no in depth financial analysis annual statements to show the whole picture . In any business, you look for the “highest and best” price point and profit generator and market share you can find. In tourism, it is the “real tourist” that creates the best revenues because that tourist stays in accommodations for at least 3 nights , buys 9 meals , and also buys entertainment and a local product or two . We don’t have all those statistics but we have most of them , but you’ll never see them. We also know we have seasonal operations . You will never see the annual picture evaluated as a seasonal business . Back to cruise ships. Sydney is now getting a second cruise ship dock courtesy of government , all 3 levels. Not sure what the provincial share is of the $22 million , but you’ll never see any cost benefit analysis for that project investment either , yet that is given a higher priority than an investment in attracting that real tourist.
Anyone who winters in the USA can tell you that the cost of visiting Nova Scotia in summer is quite cheap compared to the cost of being in Florida as a tourist in winter ; let alone summer . Florida attracts 80 million tourists per year and we can’t attract much more that 250,000 visitors, including all our relatives , every year from the USA . Something wrong ???
Of the 222600 Americans who visited NS in 2016, how many came on ship cruises?
I do not think they should be classified as tourists, at least in the economic sense.
Many stay “on board”-probably 99%
Most eat all but one meal “on board”
Some may take a tour
But all in all they contribute little to the local community-it is misleading in the extreme to label them tourists,they are just people passing in the night.
I spend 6 months a year in a US seniors complex and in discussions with my US neighbors who state they were in Canada on a cruise the majority can’t recall if they were in Montreal, St Johns or Halifax or recall one salient fact about the cruise except the quality or lack of the same of the food
The Tourism numbers may sound like a big increase but in fact they are not . They compare 2016 to 2015 only and that comparison is deceiving . Room nights sold in 2002 and 2003 were 2,629,000 and 2, 632,000 respectively, so the 2,620,000 for 2016 is really just catching up to 2002 and 2003, as for the THIRTEEN years in between 2003 and 2016, the sales were basically on the decline. If they showed all the numbers and adjusted for the fact we have fewer rooms for sale , and that HRM sells more than 50% of the provincial sales, you would see an even greater decline for rural NS . And factor in that in 14 years they spent maybe $100 million on advertizing, so mathematically/technically ,they have not increased revenues as they want you to believe . Sales of rooms by an international hotel company are not near valuable as are sales by a Nova Scotia owned tourism company .
Hi Bill,
Read your piece in today’s paper. As a year round business that operates like a small village on our own, White Point continues to be challenged to find staffing to fill our jobs. Annually we are posting growth and turning away business, year-round due to lack of human resources to satisfy demand is an unanticipated reality for us.
As an independent operation, over the last 25 years and on the eve of our 90th anniversary, we have worked to build a year-round destination with more than 160 employees. Our impact on the local economy directly through payroll, purchases, and sales channels for artists and experience providers is only shadowed by the spending of the nearly 48,000 guests we welcome 365 days a year.
Developing, marketing and converting more business outside of the 8wks of summer is the only way the ‘tourism’ sector can effectively contribute to attaining $4B by 2024 goal as set forth One Nova Scotia. In doing so, we also strengthen full time, year round jobs – but then we can’t find people to fill the jobs… an unimaginable conundrum. Filling ferries, airplanes and vehicles as modes to access us, year round exists.
Armed with 61 jobs available, after years of traditional means to ‘advertise’ jobs, we turned to social media to assist in generating applications. Our Feb 25 announcement with a picture listing the jobs netted us a couple dozen applications – a far cry from the 61 needed.
Businesses on the South Shore are actively ‘stealing’ employees from each other with teasing of small increases in wages. Our pool of potential employees is in need of an infusion of potential employees – from outside the South Shore, and it’s can’t be simply from other areas of Nova Scotia as other like us share our challenge. We need a ‘people transfusion’ from other parts of Canada, and beyond.
Out of frustration in hearing the challenges of or Engineering Team in not being able to find a Propane Tech to hire, our Chef unable to find Pastry or Line Cooks, to our F & B Manager unable to find hosts, guest services, bar and wait staff – and then hearing the same challenges expressed by Emily Turpin at Boxing Rock Brewery, Barry Tomalin at Jaspro Services – I kicked off a small effort in hopes it will at least raise awareness and generate some applications in the creation of a *WANTED* Campaign.
In the spirit of what I call co-opitition, cooperating with our competitors to work towards a common goal, in this case – grow the pool of possible applicants and attract new people to the south shore to live, play and work.
Not expecting miracles, but to do nothing is not an option. The 13 companies, organizations and even one municipality accepted my invitation to send along the jobs they had to add to our 61, the resulting list of more than 180 clearly demonstrates a need, with fingers and toes crossed, I’m hoping we’ll see positive results.
Success will come with more challenges in rural NS, I’m now turning attention to affordable housing for employees.
Here’s the story I released yesterday in hopes of shedding some light on the opportunities…
http://www.whitepoint.com/blog/2017/03/03/wanted-south-shore-businesses-search-for-more-than-180-employees/
Oh my, I apologize for my lengthy note – thanks for letting me get it off my chest 🙂
I love Nova Scotia, and love sharing it with guests and Nova Scotians, and positively contributing to the economy in our small way here at the beach at White Point Beach Resort,
Donna Hatt | March 9, 2017 |
This whole “cruise ship” tourism is another “red herring” part of the tourism economy . It also shows how all levels of government are really not making good business decisions and even worse tourism “investments” . It also shows where the so called “NS tourism corporation” is not really acting as a “business” as there is really no in depth financial analysis annual statements to show the whole picture . In any business, you look for the “highest and best” price point and profit generator and market share you can find. In tourism, it is the “real tourist” that creates the best revenues because that tourist stays in accommodations for at least 3 nights , buys 9 meals , and also buys entertainment and a local product or two . We don’t have all those statistics but we have most of them , but you’ll never see them. We also know we have seasonal operations . You will never see the annual picture evaluated as a seasonal business . Back to cruise ships. Sydney is now getting a second cruise ship dock courtesy of government , all 3 levels. Not sure what the provincial share is of the $22 million , but you’ll never see any cost benefit analysis for that project investment either , yet that is given a higher priority than an investment in attracting that real tourist.
Anyone who winters in the USA can tell you that the cost of visiting Nova Scotia in summer is quite cheap compared to the cost of being in Florida as a tourist in winter ; let alone summer . Florida attracts 80 million tourists per year and we can’t attract much more that 250,000 visitors, including all our relatives , every year from the USA . Something wrong ???
Peter S | March 6, 2017 |
Of the 222600 Americans who visited NS in 2016, how many came on ship cruises?
I do not think they should be classified as tourists, at least in the economic sense.
Many stay “on board”-probably 99%
Most eat all but one meal “on board”
Some may take a tour
But all in all they contribute little to the local community-it is misleading in the extreme to label them tourists,they are just people passing in the night.
I spend 6 months a year in a US seniors complex and in discussions with my US neighbors who state they were in Canada on a cruise the majority can’t recall if they were in Montreal, St Johns or Halifax or recall one salient fact about the cruise except the quality or lack of the same of the food
Bill | March 4, 2017 |
The Tourism numbers may sound like a big increase but in fact they are not . They compare 2016 to 2015 only and that comparison is deceiving . Room nights sold in 2002 and 2003 were 2,629,000 and 2, 632,000 respectively, so the 2,620,000 for 2016 is really just catching up to 2002 and 2003, as for the THIRTEEN years in between 2003 and 2016, the sales were basically on the decline. If they showed all the numbers and adjusted for the fact we have fewer rooms for sale , and that HRM sells more than 50% of the provincial sales, you would see an even greater decline for rural NS . And factor in that in 14 years they spent maybe $100 million on advertizing, so mathematically/technically ,they have not increased revenues as they want you to believe . Sales of rooms by an international hotel company are not near valuable as are sales by a Nova Scotia owned tourism company .
Peter S | March 4, 2017 |
Tale of two … ‘towns’? How Dickensian their plights. Your implication tends to laissez- faire… which perhaps precedes some sort of revolution .
Gordon a.... | March 4, 2017 |
Taxpayer dollars are irrelevant to politicians when soliciting votes
Prostitution on a grand scale
Bill | March 3, 2017 |
Exactly, how can this make sense. But we must remember we are dealing with politicians and common sense is not a strong attribute.
barry h | March 3, 2017 |
Another example of the many ways in which we are our own worst enemy
Bob MacKenzie | March 3, 2017 |