The great realignment: What caused tourism’s labour crisis & how do we fix it?
After laying off so many people during the COVID lockdowns, the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors now face a labour crisis.
Frédéric Dimanche points to causes and posits solutions.
It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.]
Last year ended on a positive note for the travel & tourism industry as it overcame its greatest challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine early in 2022, and the high inflation that ongoing conflict contributed to, tourists took to the skies in increasing numbers as destinations relaxed their COVID requirements.
Even China started to reopen its borders.
Yet two major concerns remain for the tourism sector:
- The industry’s response to climate change, and
- A growing labour crisis.
This “GT” Insight focuses on the second.
Also see “What are tourism’s biggest challenges & threats over the next five years?”
Years in the making
As the tourism industry reopened, operators discovered that many of the workers who had been laid off in huge numbers during the pandemic had quit, retired, or changed jobs and sectors.
That’s why prospective employers all over the world (e.g., in Europe, USA, and Thailand) are scrambling to find qualified personnel.
Many first thought that this was a direct result of the COVID crisis.
However, there are signs that the pandemic was merely a powerful catalyst for what some have called “the great resignation”.
The seeds for this worldwide staffing crisis were sowed much earlier … continue reading this “Good Tourism” Insight in full & for free at The “Good Tourism” Blog.
