Talent will be the key to the recovery of the tourism sector

Tuesday, 14 April 2020.This was the question addressed by Hosco co-founder and CEO Olivier Bracard, and Odgers Berndtson directing partner and international headhunter Jaime Ozores in the webinar organized by the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Sant Ignasi. Moderated by HTSI dean Ricard Santomà, the online event was attended by over 400 individuals who also had the opportunity to ask the professionals questions.
 

The conclusions reached on the immediate future of the sector were:

• The WTTC expects a minimum recovery period of 18-24 months for both travel and employment to return to 2019 levels.
• The most urgent trips will be restored in June. Non-essential trips will be restored in September, Corporate trips in December and tourism trips in general in January.
• Domestic tourism, rural tourism, luxury tourism and short automobile or train trips will be the first to recover.A global fall of 14% is expected in employment, double the average for other sectors.
• In the coming 12 months, the industry will be in recession. It will be local, and there will be an oversupply of professionals with few available jobs.
• Talent will have to be more proactive because there will be greater competition for the most active online positions and the contact network. Professionals will also have to invest in training since there will be greater competition.
• The capacity to take risks and be truly disruptive will be key aspects of leadership. The capacity to manage talent and for young talent to take on new skills will be essential, along with analytical thought, disruptive capacity and the ability to manage change.
• The lack of training is one of the main reasons the sector is losing talent, with professionals leaving for other sectors. Worsening working conditions to deal with the crisis over the next 12 months would be a serious mistake. Talent is essential for recovery.