Travel companies and associations have been urged to collaborate in order to promote the industry as a place to build a career and improve perceptions of the sector.
Speakers at Travel Weekly’s first People Summit said there were opportunities to work together to improve educational and vocational routes into the industry and highlight the range of roles on offer.
But they also highlighted recent research conducted by World Travel Market which suggested 60% of the population did not perceive travel as an attractive place to work.
The event, held at the offices of Grant Thornton in central London, featured the launch of Travel Weekly’s careers publication Take Off in Travel.
Claire Steiner, UK director of training company GTTP and a director of ITT Future You (pictured), said there were positive examples of collaboration within the industry, including between her organisation, Abta and the Business Travel Association.
But she said more needed to be done, with the creation of the Future You Foundation earlier this year designed to be a central point of focus which could promote all relevant sources for potential candidates.
She said: “There are a lot of voices (in the industry) and we don’t necessarily want to be the only voice, but we want to be a single place where careers advisors who don’t necessarily understand travel can come and be pointed in the right direction.”
Andrew Clarke, commercial director of the BTA, said the business travel sector had traditionally seen itself as “the posh cousin of leisure travel” and some companies had become complacent about their ability to cherry-pick staff from the leisure sector.
However, he said the experience of the pandemic had demonstrated the challenges facing the corporate sector, which was slower to rebound than leisure, and the need to take a more holistic approach to attracting the future workforce.
“I have worked closely with a number of people here and I think collaborating with other organisations on common goals and learning best practices is crucial,” he said.
“There is some good stuff being done – we have members who are also Abta members as they have leisure divisions and so they see both sides – but more collaboration is definitely needed.”
Vicki Wolf, Abta head of education and career development, pointed to examples of positive collaboration, including liaison between Abta and the BTA on apprenticeship standards and the range of industry participants on the Aviation Skills Board, and said it was important for the sector to work together to overcome misperceptions.
She also hailed increasing links between associations and organisations including Abta and ITT Future You with universities and colleges offering travel and tourism qualifications.
“We are working with [university partners] to understand what they are teaching, ensuring that is fit for business, and making sure our members understand the massive pool of college and university graduates who are out there and are desperate to work in the industry,” she said.
Dr Peter Robinson, head of the Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University, added: “We get lots of offers for guest speakers, but what is really valuable to institutions is the idea of strategic collaborative working, where we work with local employers.
“We are also focused on getting people interested in careers in tourism, hospitality and events, and we need to focus on employability so strategic partnerships like the one we have with Jet2 are really important.”
Find more on the Take Off in Travel website