Hospitality, Catering, Tourism and Cleaning

Cities, food, football, golf, mountains, rugby, sea, skiing, wildlife – Scotland has a lot to offer. Our tourist board, VisitScotland, is doing its best to attract more visitors each year. Their experience of Scotland depends on the quality of service they get from the people working in the hospitality, catering, tourism and cleaning sectors. Almost 15 million tourists made overnight trips to Scotland in 2012, spending £4.3 billion. This industry provides visitors – from home or abroad – with:

• accommodation
• food
• holidays
• visitor attractions and recreational activities.

The hospitality, leisure and travel and tourism industry is very important to Scotland, employing around 202,700 people. Recruitment in the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sectors in Scotland was higher than average in 2011/2012, with a bigger percentage of employers taking on staff than in other industries. It is also predicted that, across the UK as a whole, many job roles in these sectors will increase by at least 13% by 2020. Scottish-based events such as the Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and Homecoming in 2014 should see an increase in revenue and employment opportunities for the whole sector. In the longer term these major events will surely showcase Scotland to the rest of the world as a major tourism destination. Although the industry employs slightly more women than men, the number of women in senior management jobs is low. Longer-term projections suggest that by 2020 there will be a more equal number of male and female workers overall. It employs more part time workers than most sectors, particularly in less skilled and lower paid jobs. And, it has a higher than average labour turnover. The workforce is also younger than most industries, with around one third of its workers under the age of 25. Of course, it employs a lot of students and casual staff because of seasonal jobs. This industry really needs people with good communication and social skills, people who can make customers and visitors to Scotland feel welcome. So, to work in these sectors you should be:

• friendly
• outgoing
• helpful
• well organised
• willing to work hard and sometimes long hours
• willing to go the extra mile to make people feel welcome.

You can get into some jobs in this career area without formal qualifications. You can start in some jobs with few or no qualifications and work your way up to be a manager. While you are working you can often study for a Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ). For other jobs you need qualifications before you start looking for a job. There are full time courses in a lot of hospitality, catering and tourism subjects at all levels from a 1 year National Certificate (NC), through Higher National Certificate (HNC) and Higher National Diploma (HND) to a 4-year degree. The jobs and courses in this career area have been divided into 4 sectors:

• Hospitality general
• Cleaning and related services
• Food preparation, cooking and service
• Travel and tourism.

Sources

Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industries: Scottish Sector Skills Profile 2011

Hospitality, Tourism and Sport: Sector Skills Assessment 2012, UK Commission for Employment and Skills, October 2012

State of the Nation Report: Executive Summary Scotland (2011) – People 1st

Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism: IAG Fact Sheet 2012, People 1st and Alliance

People 1st is the Sector Skills Council for the Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism Industries (www.people1st.co.uk/)

VisitScotland website (http://www.visitscotland.org/)

State of the Nation Report 2013 - People 1st

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