Hotels hope for Swede success to fill key jobs

THE shortage of staff in the hospitality industry forced three Cork hoteliers to visit Scandinavia recently as part of a recruitment drive.

Neil Grant, manager of the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery and two other hoteliers , visited both Sweden and Denmark in a bid to fill the growing gaps in the labour pool that the hospitality industry is currently experiencing.

‘We visited a hotel school in Copenhagen and a jobs fair in Vaxjo in Sweden,’ Neil Grant told The Southern Star.

In recent years, the hotel sector has been struggling to fill certain key roles. Meanwhile, the latest industry survey undertaken by the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) in advance of its 80th Annual Conference in Co Cavan shows that employment growth within the hotel sector looks set to continue in 2018.

Aaron Mansworth, chair of the Cork branch of IHF said: ‘Over half of hoteliers (52%) expect to increase their staffing levels with opportunities available across all areas of business, from entry-level positions to jobs for experienced staff.’

The tourism industry is Ireland’s largest indigenous employer and supports approximately 230,000 jobs – equivalent to 11% of total employment – with more than 60,000 of these jobs in the hotel sector alone.

Employment in the tourism sector has grown by over 60,000 since 2011, an increase of 33%. This compares to an increase of 13% in employment throughout the overall economy.