Recruitment is no longer an issue for the cruise industry, according to some lines.
Speaking in a round-table discussion hosted by Travel Weekly, Celestyal business development vice-president Janet Parton said recruitment challenges are an issue of the past, and the line is more likely to face the “opposite problem” when seeking new staff.
Referencing the line’s plan to recruit four additional trade team members in 2024, Parton said: “I don’t think it will be a challenge to fill roles – if anything, I think it’ll be the opposite problem where we’ll have loads of applicants and we’ll have to sift through a lot of really good people.”
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She added: “Recruitment really isn’t an issue because [cruise] is a fun industry that people want to be a part of.”
Parton’s views were echoed by Cunard’s vice-president of sales and marketing Angus Struthers who said there will always be talent available within the travel industry.
During the summer, Cunard deployed of a field-based manager team for first time since 2020, meaning the line’s sales team is “back to full strength” for the first time since the pandemic, Struthers said, showing the robustness of the market.
“There will always be talent out there and I think the travel industry is great at providing opportunities for everyone,” said Struthers.
“There are also so many opportunities for people to move within an organisation even if they have slightly different skill sets, for example, we’ve seen people who don’t necessarily have pure sales experience moving into sales roles so it’s great for people to have those opportunities.”
Riviera Travel channel director Stuart Milan said recruitment has been “easier” this year, as the operator shared plans to hire three more key account managers next year, bringing the team total to 18.
He said: “I imagine it varies depending on your department, but from a frontline, trade-facing perspective, I think [recruitment] has become a lot easier – that has been our experience this year.”