THE Victorian tourism industry is looking to attract and retain more workers with a new micro-credentialling program available for businesses looking to sharpen skills.

Data from the October 2023 Tourism Workforce Report suggested that while the severity of labour shortages had eased last year, the skills shortages remained elevated to the pre-pandemic period, especially for particular roles.

The program comes under a current partnership between the Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) and Typsy, an online delivery platform, and is open to tourism, events and hospitality businesses across Victoria.

Mount Buller business owners Sarah and Eddie said the program was key to empowering their small but mighty workforce.

“As a relatively young business with no physical office and a scattered workforce whose focus is on delivering stellar visitor experiences to our guests, we were looking for a way to develop our soft skills,” Eddie said.

“We needed flexibility, we needed something that wasn’t too time consuming and something that could have an impact on our business.

“With Typsy, the modules are short, they are all online which means you can complete them from anywhere, and there are takeaways that you can then tailor to suite your business needs.”

With Typsy, once all the courses have been completed, the learner must successfully complete a quiz that focuses on the key learning outcome from the course to achieve the digital ‘certification or credential’.

The short duration of the courses is ideal for time-poor businesses, as an entire course will be between 30 – 60 minutes.

Typsy’s free online programs which are geared towards both tourism operators and their staff, cover key skills areas including digital capacity, leadership, communication and innovation.