Global air travel reached 65% of pre-pandemic levels this summer, according to the summer Travel Outlook Report 2022 produced by World Travel Market London (WTM) and analytics firm ForwardKeys. 

The latest WTM report revealed that the current enthusiasm to travel overseas is so strong that a rise in air fares has done relatively little to dampen demand. Europe has seen the biggest tourism recovery, recording an improvement of 16 percentage points, and is now reporting the highest overall tourist arrival volumes. Beach holidays are also driving demand, and this is most evident in the Americas where Q3 bookings for air travel to the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico are 5% ahead of 2019 levels.

While this is great news for the industry as a whole, it is creating serious challenges for airports, airlines and destinations as they struggle to recruit sufficient staff to cope with the large number of holidaymakers catching up on overdue vacations.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 62 million global travel industry jobs were lost in 2020 due the pandemic, representing a drop of 18.5%. Many of those who were laid off have since left the industry, citing low pay, long and unsociable hours, lack of career development opportunities and vulnerability to future layoffs among other reasons.

Although the situation is slowly improving, our industry has urgent work to do to lure back former employees, attract young new talent and address the underlying issues impacting travel and tourism recruitment and retention.

With the return of WTM London (7-9 November 2022) to its fully live, pre-pandemic format, we are pulling out all the stops to make this year’s event a catalyst for industry revitalisation and growth. Amongst our key priorities is finding solutions for the talent shortage which will allow the sector to bounce-back from the Covid years and cash in on the booming demand.

Re-engaging the lost talent pool

The struggle to replace manpower lost during the pandemic is a global one, and the solution lies in facing up to many of the structural problems around pay and conditions that caused so many to pursue new careers outside the industry post covid. Technology holds some of the solutions to staff shortages, but issues around sustainability and diversity must also be addressed if the industry is to regain its appeal among jobseekers.

On Tuesday 8 November WTM is partnering with Travel Perspectives to present a series of talks on the Insight Stage focused on ‘Driving Recruitment and Developing Talent’. With the industry struggling to recruit, a panel discussion on ‘Keeping your Team Happy and Motivated’ will focus on retention issues such as employee wellbeing, hybrid working, and what makes employees love their employers. Another panel will look at how travel companies can ‘Find the Right People’ and ensure their teams are diverse.

On the same day, over on the Sustainability Stage, WTM’s Sustainability Advisor Harold Goodwin will lead a session entitled ‘Our world is diverse but how diverse and inclusive are our businesses?’ Panellists will share their experience of employing the differently abled and providing travel and itineraries for groups who often feel excluded from the mainstream industry.

Recruitment and retention will also be on the agenda alongside climate change, digital innovation and social inclusion at the Minister’s Summit at World Travel Market, held in association with UNWTO and WTTC. Taking place on Tuesday 8 November on the Future Stage, the theme of this year’s summit is Rethinking Tourism’. Joining Ministers of Tourism from every global region will be private sector leaders and youth representatives, all sharing their vision for the sector: ‘What should the tourism sector of tomorrow look like? And how do we get there?”.