C&M Travel Recruitment has reported its busiest January for new jobseekers since 2012 when its recruitment activity index began as it stressed the need to keep attracting talent into the sector.
In terms of the number of candidates being placed in new travel jobs, the month saw a 49% jump from December 2022, according to latest figures from the recruitment agency.
It was also up by 34% against January 2022 and 2020, but down by 34% from January 2019.
The number of candidates searching for new travel jobs reached its highest point in 18 months.
January 2023’s total was up 157% from December and was the second highest figure in the past four years behind only July 2021.
New vacancies in the travel industry increased at the start of 2023 with January’s figure up by 391% from December 2022.
It was also the highest number of new vacancies for January since 2017, with last month’s total up by 1% from both January 2022 and 2020, up by 2% from January 2019 and up by 4% from January 2018.
Barbara Kolosinska, managing director at C&M Travel Recruitment, said: “2023 has got off to a very healthy start with vacancies and placements both rising and, most importantly, we also had a big increase in new jobseekers.
“Last year was the busiest period for travel recruitment that any of us can remember, but the one thing that held it back was the lack of quality applicants.”
She added: “With new travel candidates reaching their highest January level in at least 12 years, 2023 has started exactly as we needed it to. The big challenge now is to continue this momentum and keep doing all we can to attract talent into the industry.”
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