Tourism Talent enters Australia and launches new website
New Zealand’s only dedicated tourism talent development and recruitment marketplace has launched in Australia operating in both New South Wales and Western Australia.
Chris Flynn, President and CEO at The World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage and former Regional Director Pacific for PATA, and Karen Priest, the Principal of Smart Tourism, a Perth based tourism consulting firm join Tourism Talent as Australian Directors.
Mr Flynn will be familiar to many as a he’s been a regular speaker at tourism conferences throughout New Zealand.
Ms Priest has 30 years’ experience in the private and public sector and currently serves on the Board of Tourism Western Australia.
Tourism Talent New Zealand’s Managing Director Dylan Rushbrook says ‘Australia is a natural next step. A number of our international clients have asked when we would move into the Australian market as they have similar talent issues to that of New Zealand. We also realise that the right talent doesn’t always live in New Zealand, so expanding into Australia opens up our talent pool, and creates opportunities for professionals to move between the two markets through our services.’
‘We are incredibly lucky to have people of the calibre of Chris and Karen believe in and share our passion for change. Both bring extensive local and global networks and will help take Tourism Talent to another level.’ says Rushbrook.
Flynn says, ‘The opportunity to become part of Tourism Talent was an easy decision. As an industry we’ve struggled in the past due to a lack of dedicated career platforms and expert guidance to help us determine the most appropriate career path to take. Tourism Talent fills that gap and I am proud to be part of the Australian team.’
Priest adds, ‘I am beyond excited about joining the Tourism Talent team. With 30 years’ experience in tourism, hospitality and recruitment in various parts of the world including New Zealand and Australia for a number of years, I am passionate about both countries, in mentoring our youth and encouraging them to think of tourism as an exhilarating career path for their future.
To support the expansion into the Australian market, Tourism Talent has also launched a new website this week. The website was developed by Auckland based Maverick Digital, who as a client of Tourism Talent’s had a unique insight into the business from both the client and candidate point of views.
Rushbrook goes on to say, ‘the great thing is that amongst the directors and our clients there is real energy and passion to see change happen and to see tourism become recognized for the amazing career that it can be. We are all really proud of what we’ve achieved over the past year, but there is a long way to go in New Zealand, Australia, and beyond.’
ENDS
For more information please contact; Dylan Rushbrook +64 212850625
dylan.rushbrook@tourismtalent.co.nz www.tourism-talent.com
About Tourism Talent
Tourism Talent was established in New Zealand in 2018 by tourism industry professionals Jason Hill (formerly of ATEED and Tourism NZ), and Dylan Rushbrook, (formerly of SKYCITY and Heritage & CityLife Hotels) who joined forces with Nuwanthie Samarakone, CEO of ICE, a talent development agency with offices in London, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Auckland and Wellington.
Born from frustration in sourcing quality talent for roles, and other agencies not understanding the tourism industry, the directors quickly established Tourism Talent and set about building a unique position in the market to make change happen, whilst supporting industry wide initiatives to change the image of tourism as a career.
Tourism Talent has three areas of focus in executive search, temping and development and is a sponsor of the New Zealand Tourism Awards – Employer of Choice Award in 2019.