This week, I opened our annual launch event for Travel Weekly’s prospectus-style careers magazine Take off in Travel, designed to showcase the fantastic and diverse employment opportunities in our sector.
This is always a highlight for me, demonstrating not only Travel Weekly’s passion for tomorrow’s industry, but also shining a light on those companies committed to finding and nurturing the stars of the future.
In addition to our regular partner Abta and our headline sponsor MSC Cruises, we had a record number of firms support the publication this year, which was particularly encouraging given the challenges the industry faces.
With so much political and economic uncertainty, it would be easy to relegate training and development to a back seat. But if anything, our speakers felt companies were treating it more seriously.
There is still a degree of misunderstanding about apprenticeships, and many companies are still getting to grips with new regulation and funding, but participation in apprenticeship schemes is “climbing steeply” and more firms are forming coherent training programmes.
There are still areas of concern, including a dip in applicants for traditional academic courses and the potential impact of Brexit on firms and their workers, but the speakers were confident that travel was increasingly seen as a credible and rewarding career choice.
The benefits of attracting the best young people to our sector are undeniable. As one speaker said: “The performance and ideas we see from our new talent are absolutely inspiring.” Long may that continue.
Check out Take off in Travel at takeontravel.co.uk
Comment from Travel Weekly, November 15 edition