Moves are afoot to attract more young people into jobs in New Zealand's biggest earner, tourism, which could be under threat if more workers don't come into the industry.
The rapidly-growing tourism industry is the country's biggest export earner, bringing in over $14 billion a year, but that could be under threat.
"We've got a number of hotels in development, we've got large scale international events coming up in 2021. We're concerned that we're just not bringing through enough talent," said Steve Armitage of Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development.
In fact, 36,000 extra tourism workers are needed by 2025.
Chris Roberts of Tourism Industry Aotearoa says if the industry doesn't have enough people joining its workforce, "we won't be able to deliver that fantastic New Zealand visitor experience".
So the first ever research of its kind was carried out to find out why the shortage exists.
It found young people perceived tourism as "low-wage" and a subject for "drop outs".
The positives were it is "fun" and "interesting" with travel opportunities.
"The United Nations has estimated that a quarter of all the jobs to be created on the planet in the next decade will be in tourism," Mr Roberts said.
The research also found young people are influenced by elders who thought there was no future in tourism.
"There are long-term careers that you can have in the tourism sector," Mr Armitage said.
As for solutions, a campaign will be launched aimed at showing off the tourism industry to young people.
There's also a push for higher pay, and possibly for more roles to be put on the skills shortages list.
The drive by tourism industry leaders to attract more young people to the sector is made even more urgent with big events like APEC and the America's Cup coming up, and Auckland and Queenstown already bursting with tourists.
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