Making hospitality an attractive industry is mission one
In the year prior to when the pandemic broke out, the global Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, grew by 3.9% to generate a record $8.8 trillion and 319 million jobs to the world economy. It made T&T the second fastest growing sector in the world, behind only manufacturing, which grew by 4%.
The WTTC research also showed that travel and tourism was responsible for one in five of all new jobs created in the world over the last five years. We were also informed that the number of international travelers kept rising each year, hotel occupancies were on the up annually, and additional restaurants were opening as people were eating out more than ever.
All that been said, the hospitality industry was equally aware that it faces ‘ups and downs’ during good and bad times. The dire moments that stifle its growth, not only comprise pandemic causing coronaviruses (MERS, SARS, COVID-19), but also economic, social and political upheavals, including the current war in the Middle East.
In a constantly changing environment, one thing though remained constant: the overwhelming challenge of attracting people and talent, especially the young, and, of retaining employees, which for some reason or another, the industry neglected to effectively tackle or find a lasting solution - such as making hospitality a favoured career choice.
Consider a road race that is held for schoolboys and where there are ten competitors. Normally, the winner, the runner up and perhaps the one who came third, would receive some sort of award, whilst the other seven who took part become ‘also-rans’.
Let’s imagine a hypothetical case where instead of presenting awards to the participants who came in first, second and third, the ten runners are given the opportunity to select a preferred career from ten different professions (in this instance: Medicine, Engineering, Finance, Manufacturing, Sports, Entertainment, Aviation, Hospitality, IT and the Military services), with the race winner having first option to select his preferred career from the ten different professions. The second runner-up gets to go next in choosing his favoured career from the remaining nine professions, and it goes on down the line in order of the race position.
That hospitality will come up as a preferred career amongst the first five race runners is highly unlikely. In all probability, it may battle with another least preferred profession in the mind of the competitor who came in ninth out of the ten who ran. And that should hardly come as a surprise. I believe that the objective to make a career in hospitality is increasingly lost on our workforce. Hoteliers must shift their focus from filling shifts to creating careers, leaning into the most dedicated employees and allocating time to career-focused leadership development. Hence, making hospitality an attractive industry must be mission one.
Personal interest and lifestyle of those who are already in the hospitality industry influenced students in the personal factors to take a hospitality career. This could be because interest developed in them while still in high schools can be a pull factor to pursue a career in hospitality since the lifestyle of those already in the industry could be admirable to some of the students.
Industry leaders must understand that no matter how quickly you hire (or how much technology you adopt), you can’t deliver excellence if your team is in a constant state of reboot. Our primary challenges will be rooted in the realm of human factors rather than technological hurdles, and the best hospitality brands aren’t just upgrading systems, they’re upgrading people too.
Gloria Guevera, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), said it best: “Travel and Tourism is set to remain one of the world’s biggest job creators, offering opportunities for millions of people worldwide. But we must also recognise that wider demographics and structural changes are reshaping labour markets everywhere. Many workers left the sector during COVID when Travel and Tourism came to a standstill. Now, as global unemployment is expected to fall and working age population shrink, this is creating increased pressure on labour supply, especially for fast growing sectors (like ours).”
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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