Mr. Paul Kelly:

In my opening statement I will highlight some key findings from Fáilte Ireland’s most comprehensive research to date into the tourism and hospitality labour market and I will outline our work to support businesses in overcoming the current staffing and skills shortages. First I wish to say a few words about the important role tourism played in Ireland’s employment history. Tourism has an unparalleled track record of providing a huge range of employment opportunities in communities the length and breadth of the country. From entry level roles to CEOs of major multinational hotel chains and airlines and from general managers of the world’s best hotels and attractions to Michelin star chefs, the Irish tourism industry can be hugely proud of the role it played in rapidly rebuilding employment after the financial crisis to a high of over 260,000 jobs. Moreover, we have established over many decades a world-renowned reputation for excellence, quality and service by those working in Irish tourism. This reputation will be critically important now as we compete for workers internationally. I think successive Governments and their agencies can also be proud of the role we have played in supporting the industry in achieving this success.

One of Fáilte Ireland’s key strategic priorities is to help build employment in the tourism industry. As part of this, we aim to support the industry to be an appealing and rewarding industry in which to work. This part of our remit has never been as important as it is now. The current staffing and skills shortages are unprecedented. However, we recognise that staffing shortages are not just a problem in the tourism sector, there are many sectors of the Irish economy facing this same challenge and tourism globally is also experiencing it. The loss of skilled workers and the difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff is undoubtedly one of the greatest barriers to the sector’s recovery from the pandemic. Even before Covid-19, the tourism industry faced a particular set of employment challenges in attracting workers and retaining them. The closure of the sector on public health advice during Covid-19 exacerbated these challenges significantly.

Whilst employers are the drivers of making tourism a truly rewarding and attractive place to work, a cross-sector effort is vital in supporting the industry to address the full scale of the challenges ahead. Fáilte Ireland works directly with industry bodies such as the Irish Hotels Federation to develop sector-specific strategies to make working in the industry more appealing. Also, through the tourism and hospitality careers oversight group, Fáilte Ireland works with industry bodies, Government agencies and the further and higher education sectors to collectively address staffing, skills and perception challenges at a national level. The group’s current focus is the urgent issue at hand – supporting the industry to recruit the staff it needs for the season ahead.

To help inform our analysis and response to both the immediate and long-term challenges, Fáilte Ireland conducted the most comprehensive piece of research ever undertaken into the tourism and hospitality labour market in late 2021 as these challenges emerged. The purpose was to assess the employment landscape within the sector; establish the core challenges inhibiting recruitment and retention; and provide the basis for our work in supporting businesses. The research was very robust. We surveyed 1,000 businesses and 5,000 workers overall, including 3,500 within tourism and hospitality. We benchmarked internationally and engaged extensively with the recruitment industry. Based on our research we estimate that there are 40,000 vacancies across the industry, with one quarter of those at a senior level. The loss of skills is evident across all roles, as one worker in three now is new to the tourism sector. Of the 1,000 businesses surveyed, 30% face closure if recruitment challenges are not resolved. Many have had to reduce their opening hours or limit the services they provide or both. This means revenue opportunities are reduced, which will slow down the overall recovery of the sector.

Fáilte Ireland is supporting the industry to fill these vacancies in several ways. First, we are supporting businesses to access potential staff who are readily available. Regionally, we are helping the industry to build relationships with further and higher education providers to reach students and recent graduates who are available to work at peak times and become a key part of the seasonal workforce. We are working with the Department of Social Protection to promote the pathways to work strategy and improve opportunities for tourism and hospitality businesses to recruit from the live register. To help ensure a future pipeline of talent and inspire the future generation of tourism, Fáilte Ireland recently launched the first ever industry-wide transition year work placement programme to provide tourism and hospitality businesses with a direct link to students looking for work experience placements, which can progress to become seasonal roles. To date, there are over 600 placements available to students across the country.Internationally, we are also supporting the industry to identify the international markets with most potential for access to workers. To drive awareness of the variety of roles available, we have already invested over €300,000 in marketing campaigns since the industry reopened last summer. This month we will launch a new multi-platform recruitment awareness campaign with an allocation of €450,000 to promote the unique benefits of working in the industry targeting people ranging in ages from 16 to 60 years. Our tourismcareers.ie website, which promotes jobs, courses and careers, has been optimised to drive tens of thousands of potential jobseekers to live job advertisements in the sector. This is complemented by a range of programmes to build skills and capability for businesses and individual employees, including best practice recruitment supports and a suite of online self-directed professional development courses. This will help to alleviate the pressure on businesses to upskill and train new staff, while also helping employees to develop their own career in their own time.