The EU wants to explore a youth mobility arrangement with the UK (Credit: iStock)
This could help UK travel and tourism businesses make progress in addressing staffing shortages, restore opportunities young people lost due to UK’s departure from the EU, and make a tangible contribution to UK’s growth prospects – benefiting whichever party is in office after the next UK general election.
Abta’s research with Seasonal Businesses in Travel (SBiT) illustrates the seriousness of the challenge many outbound businesses have faced following a 69% fall in UK nationals working in tourism support roles – such as travel reps, chalet hosts and ski guides – in Europe since the UK left the EU.
Not only is this hampering businesses today, it also has damaging consequences for the future of our industry and skills within the sector; 38% of travel staff, and 49% of leaders in the industry, have worked overseas at an earlier point of their careers. Without access to those roles, the future talent pipeline for the industry is set to be turned off.
It is also important to make clear it is not only outbound tourism businesses that would benefit; the inbound and domestic sectors have their own workforce challenges, whether those be related to shortages of particular skills, such as languages, or staffing issues, which could also be partially alleviated by a youth mobility deal.
This is why Abta has been working hard in recent years, alongside industry partners, to put forward a pragmatic, positive, evidence-based case for change in this area – to policymakers at home and abroad.