The travel industry is making available thousands of jobs to workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The positions appear on www.katrinajobs.org, a clearinghouse for travel and tourism industry jobs that has been developed jointly by The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), in partnership with the Travel & Tourism Coalition and the Travel Business Roundtable.
The travel industry in the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama accounts for $18.3 billion in travel-related business annually and over 260,000 industry jobs. The travel and tourism industry is the largest private employer in New Orleans.
Hundreds of hospitality and travel & tourism companies are currently in the process of providing positions for posting on the site, with others expected to join the effort and list open positions in the coming months. Furthermore, businesses from any American industry will be able to post available jobs on the Web site. Job seekers will also be able to post their resumes or job qualifications, and browse for positions on the Web site.
In unveiling the Web site, Jonathan M. Tisch, Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable and Chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, applauded the broad coalition of support for www.katrinajobs.org by 37 travel and tourism industry-related associations who collectively represent over 21,000 members.
“The return of travel and tourism jobs and spending will be critical to the full economic recovery of the Gulf Coast region,” said Tisch. “Until that happens, this unprecedented partnership among industry leaders will help industry workers rebuild their lives.”
According to Roger J. Dow, TIA President and Chief Executive Officer, the immediate goal of this initiative is to assist workers who have been displaced in finding jobs as soon as possible. As the Gulf region recovers, www.katrinajobs.org will also serve as a valuable clearinghouse for travel and tourism industry jobs, as local businesses resume hiring workers.
“The travel and tourism industry has probably more transferable job skills than any other,” said Dow. “Industry businesses have gone to great lengths to provide continued employment for their displaced workers, but more can be done to ensure long-term job opportunities. By acting as the central jobs clearinghouse, Katrinajobs.org is one more way we can ease the hardships of those who face the difficult task of recovering from this disaster.”
In addition, TIA is also creating a special section on its Web site to gather information and provide links to efforts being done by others in the travel industry in support of those affected by the recent hurricane. The site will also include statistics showing the travel-related economic impact on the devastated regions.
Companies who wish to post positions should go to www.katrinajobs.org beginning today.
——-