Following the UK Tourism Minister’s comments in regards to the development of a youth mobility scheme to address the skills shortage in the Travel and Tourism industry. Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of The Advantage Partnership has issued a statement welcoming this development.
In the statement, Julia Lo Bue-Said highlighted that:
“The comments made by tourism minister Sir John Whittingdale reiterating the government’s commitment to developing a youth mobility scheme to address the skills shortage in the travel industry tourism are very welcome. Whilst the pandemic hit the travel industry hard, the UK Outbound sector was particularly impacted and consequently many of those working within the sector had to find jobs outside of the industry resulting in a talent gap as travel has continued to grow back to pre-pandemic levels.
Advantage’s recent Global Business Travel Review looked at travel recruitment as a driving force in the industry. The insights offered in the report highlight that as well as government support, companies need to meet the work-life balance requirements to attract new talent particularly by offering hybrid working along with competitive salaries and speedy hiring so as not to lose candidates. The review particularly highlighted the importance of young talent in offering an opportunity to bring in fresh energy and diverse thinking to rejuvenate the travel industry whilst supportive training initiatives including mentoring programmes and apprenticeships entice non-travel candidates to make that career transition.
At Advantage we recently announced our own partnership with apprentice provider AS Training to invest in bringing new talent into the industry setting ourselves the ambitious target of 50 new apprenticeships working across our membership in the next 12 months.
I recently met with John Whittingdale to discuss the role our sector plays within the overall travel industry ecosystem, and having the government recognise the challenges the UK Outbound Travel industry faces when it comes to skills shortages is an important step forward. As a member of the Tourism Industry Council, I am looking forward to helping shape the outcome of the educational and skills reform.”
