“‘The hospitality industry offers a great career.’ Really?” My response titled “Depending on where you live, hospitality is now attractive” was published as part of a Good Tourism insight bite.
On 30 May 2023, the Good Tourism blog published this insight bite prompted by this scenario:
A family member in the last year of high school is asking you for advice on careers.
Would you suggest a career in hospitality?
Why? Why not?
17 contributors offered answers (limited to 300 words) to these questions and were mostly positive.
All the comments can be read by registering (free) for the Good Tourism blog here: https://www.goodtourismblog.com/2023/05/career-in-hospitality-really/
I offered the following remarks:
Depending on where you live, hospitality is now attractive
If I had been asked whether I would recommend this sector to a high school student ten years ago, I would have been hesitant. It was then renowned for low wages, long hours, and precarious contracts. This is still the situation for many hospitality jobs.
Yet the world has significantly changed over the last decade. In many parts of Europe, the key problems facing young people who now want to find a job and leave home are the high costs of rent, energy, transport, and sometimes local taxes.
If they can find high paid jobs that enable them to cover these costs and live well, that is great. But even graduates are finding it difficult to get jobs that pay sufficiently to achieve this.
Some jobs in the hospitality sector offer pathways that can enable youth to address these challenges.
For example, there are many different jobs in hotels and on cruise ships that include accommodation, no bills, and often free food. The salaries may not be high, but these days if your basic living costs are met, that counts for more than previously.
Moreover, sometimes assistance for transportation to exotic locations is included. For young people who suffered lockdowns for COVID-19, this can provide opportunities to travel to these destinations, socialise with international people, develop languages, and learn about different cultures.
I know two young people who have recently got jobs related to hospitality in Sardinia and Greece and will be living in hotels. They are both very excited.
There is a plethora of job vacancies in hospitality, including some with hotel accommodation, in Venice and the Veneto region where I live. Why not apply?
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