The consequences of the pandemic led to a new threat to tourism. At the travel exhibition in ITB-Berlin, a new global problem was announced, and it turned out to be a shortage of personnel. During the “covid” times, tourism worldwide lost approximately 62 million employees, and they are in no hurry to return – almost 90% of tourism sector enterprises are experiencing an acute labor shortage.
These figures are contained in a report presented at a press conference as part of the ITB, a research firm on the expansion of tourism employment (TEEM), which was created on the initiative of Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, and the Global Travel and Tourism Council (GSTC).
“The search for personnel has become a new problem in the tourism industry after the pandemic. The World Economic Forum stated that the coronavirus has led to the loss of 62 million employees in this sector,” the study says.
It also provides the following figures: 68% of tourism enterprises stated that they currently experience a shortage of personnel, and another 88% confirmed a shortage of labor. Meanwhile, 62% of participants said the 25- to 45-year-old age group was the hardest to convince to work in tourism – a segment that tends to focus on technology and the pharmaceutical sector, they said. Also, 82% said they must hold a job posting longer than usual before finding an employee. Moreover, high-tech industries such as technology, artificial intelligence, sales, and reservations are mostly affected.
“By 2025, the travel and tourism industry will need 8.4 million new employees specializing in areas such as data analysis, digital marketing, and advanced customer service,” the researchers said. They also stated that it is necessary to “try to understand the feelings of the staff working in this sector and the reason for the migration to other sectors”.