Travel companies struggling to fill vacancies, says report

Travel companies in the UK are struggling to fill positions as the number of vacancies rises, according to a report by People 1st.

Its survey on the jobs market in the travel sector found three times as many travel agency employers reported that jobs were hard to fill in 2013 compared to 2011 – 675 compared to 206.

Martin-Christian Kent, executive director at People 1st, believes this is down to a fall in unemployment but also because of the increased demands from employers for staff to have a combination of good customer service and technology skills.

"To differentiate themselves from the market, businesses are going to need to provide a combination of both of these things, and that’s going to be a challenge for both recruiters and recruits," he said.

"Traditionally, this has required people with very different skill set and it is going to be critical to attract people who are naturally people-oriented, but have the confidence to use technology."

The report found that since 2006, there has been a steady fall of 9% in the number of women working in the industry.

"It is not immediately apparent why this is the case, as traditionally such a fall would be consistent with a similar fall in part-time working, which has not occurred," said the report.

"However, it does raise questions whether attracting more women into the industry will help alleviate the hard-to-fill vacancies."

The number of travel agencies reporting vacancies has increased from 13% to 25% between 2011 and 2013, while tour operators have reporting vacancies have doubled.

"It’s clear that the travel industry is recovering from the downward trend it had experienced in the previous five years when industry consolidation due to the financial crisis and a rising number of online bookings had a negative effect," said Kent.

He said another positive trend was that businesses are vastly increasing their investment in training.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that travel agencies want their staff to have better product knowledge, customer service and to add value by putting together specific packages, which all helps them offer something more than booking directly through the internet.

"Tour operators are also doing this to compete more effectively, specifically around emphasising job-specific skills.

"In fact, between 2011 and 2013 the percentage of employers offering their staff either on or off the job training has increased by 54% in travel agencies and by a huge 234% among tour operators."