Travel agencies have suffered the most from the covid crisis – in two covid years, about a third of the staff were fired, which they are now hastily trying to recruit, but many travel agencies cannot recover from such a global blow and are closing. Air travel, where staff shortages have wreaked havoc throughout the “civilized world,” as well as the hotel business, suffered somewhat less. Such data was shown by a study conducted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the European Tourism Commission (ETC). However, the first message of the study is that the recovery of the travel and tourism sector will be at serious risk if about 1.2 million tourism workers across the EU leave the sector.
The WTTC report also claims that the lack of human resources this summer points to an emergency. At the peak of the pandemic in 2020, about 1.7 million jobs were lost in the travel and tourism sector in the EU. As soon as governments began easing quarantine measures in 2021, a recovery began, but the previous pace has not yet been picked up. However, according to the study, over 570,000 tourism enterprises have so far been “saved from closure.”
At the same time, as the study adds, the travel agency sector still has the most vacancies – travel agencies were the most affected business, with a 30% shortage of jobs. That is, almost every open position was affected – and it is possible that, like in other areas, employees laid off during covid do not believe that lockdowns will not happen again and no longer want to go to work in such a risky area.
The aviation industry, meanwhile, is experiencing, according to the same study, a 22% shortage of jobs. And the air chaos that arose because of this has already managed to ruin the life of tourists throughout Europe. It is followed by the hotel and restaurant business with a deficit of 21%. Approximately one in five potential workers are being sought here.
Though so far, WTTC forecasts are relatively good: the recovery of the sector will continue to accelerate this year, reaching almost pre-pandemic levels with a growth of 32.9%. “Europe showed a stronger recovery trend in 2021 than the global average. However, the current labor shortage may delay this trend,” said Julia Simpson, President and CEO of WTTC. from weather atmospheric pressure.