The travel and tourism sector faces a “demographic time bomb” with a lack of potential skilled workers from 2023 onwards, industry leaders were warned at Travel Weekly’s Business Breakfast today at the Abta Travel Convention in Greece.
The issue was described by Monarch Group chief executive Andrew Swaffield (pictured) as a “massive political issue that no one is talking about”.
He was on a four-strong panel who urged to the industry to encourage more school leavers to consider a career in travel rather than move into further education against a backdrop of the government consulting on its ‘trailblazer’ scheme designed to deliver 3 million apprenticeships across the UK by 2020.
Swaffield, who started his career in travel as a Thomas Cook branch trainee, highlighted the need to encourage more women back to work from maternity leave in addition to promoting the diverse range of job opportunities the sector – from aircraft engineering and IT to oil trading and finance.
He warned that the UK will run out of skilled workers in eight years time, resulting in the country falling into recession.
He suggested that Germany was already facing such a dilemma and that is why it is taking in so many refugees.
“We need workers from 2023 onwards,” Swaffield said.
Abta was suggested as a potential body to represent the travel industry in boosting opportunities in travel but Travel 2 and Gold Medal managing director Andy Freeth questioned whether the association can represent the needs of such a diverse sector as travel and tourism.
“Students don’t realise the diverse range of roles available,” he said.
Midcounties Co-operative Travel group general manager, Alistair Rowland, an Abta board member, admitted that a skills gap existed in travel retailing and it was hard to recruit good staff.
“Travel and tourism should be aspirational for school leavers rather than something people just fall into,” he said. “We need a bigger share of the talent moving through.”
Celebrity Cruises UK & Ireland managing director, Jo Rzymowska, called on the sector to do more to prompt young people to consider travel as a career as well as supporting older workers with more flexible working arrangements around child care and caring for ageing parents.
“This is an attractive industry to work in, we’re not selling widgets, so we should be able to get the best talents,” she said. “People underestimate the dynamics and pace of the industry.”