Most industries are grappling with staff shortages, with tourism operators who rely on trade from visitors concerned they will not be able to run as normal.

During summer, Dolphin Watch Cruises Jervis Bay usually run four boats per day, five times each.

Manager Jet Jones said this will likely be less this season amid staff shortages.

"We've got four boats on our fleet and three skippers," he said.

"And basically, with people that we've got, we'd have to run them all without a day off, just to be able to start making the money that's available to us."

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Mr Jones has been trying to hire staff for more than three months.

A challenge adding fuel to the fire is requiring workers with such "specific qualifications", which has made hiring after lockdowns difficult.

"In the tourism and marine industry there are quite specific skills that you need and qualifications to be able to do the job," said Mr Jones.

"So they (workers) are pretty rare as it is.

"We usually have a turnover of people rolling into the area and leaving as a natural cycle, but that cycle is completely stopped during the pandemic so there's nobody coming in."

Mr Jones is concerned about the shortages as courses for deckhands and skippers can be costly with most running next year.

"They're all pretty serious, big qualifications," said Mr Jones. "When you think about it our big boats take 150 people in all different conditions, and have their lives in their hands all the time."

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Mr Jones added the South Coast's tight rental market and the uncertainty surrounding whether consistent hours can be offered to workers makes it is difficult to entice them to the area.

"In a tourist area like this, someone might have a giant qualification and might have a couple of decades of experience, and we can't even guarantee them more than an average of 12 hours a week over the course of the year," said Mr Jones.

"We could use them for 14 hours a day over the summer, but then when it drops off, and there's nowhere for them to live, it's a real balancing act.

"I've had friends that worked for us as deckhands and they had their house sold from under them and have had to move."

After a challenging two years of bushfires and lockdowns, Mr Jones said it is "frustrating when you can finally make some money and then you don't have enough people".

Job vacancies have increased by 17 per cent across the South Coast since the beginning of November, according to Business Illawarra.

As at Tuesday, December 21, there are 233 hospitality and tourism jobs advertised on Seek.com across the South Coast and Illawarra.

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