Tourism employs 217,000 people –an increase of 11% over a year – and serves to illustrate just how important our industry is to the economy and the lives of working people across the country. There have never been so many opportunities to work in the sector, in so many varied and fulfilling roles.
Within the hospitality sector the rate of advancement can be rapid for people looking to advance a career, whilst many people are working in tourism in marketing, HR, digital development, business development, adventure activities, event delivery and transport, to name but a few.
Tourism offers a range of dynamic employment opportunities and it is essential that as employers and as a country we continue to invest in a talented workforce, both now and in the future.
More and more people are finding their way to careers in tourism, or moving across jobs in the industry. And it’s about encouraging more young people to consider careers in the industry to bring the skills our industry needs in order to continue its phenomenal rate of growth.
VisitScotland was awarded the prestigious Investors in Young People Gold Accreditation, the highest award possible for the only people management standard that focuses on an employer’s recruitment and retention of young people.
But our work extends beyond our own teams and VisitScotland is keen to work with schools and education providers to extoll the merits of a career in tourism, encouraging students to bring their skills.
Recently VisitScotland and Moray Speyside Tourism worked in partnership with a group of S3 pupils studying French at Milne’s High School in Fochabers, inviting them to take part in a competition to create an advert for VisitScotland.
As part of the project, pupils could advertise any event, city, region or itinerary that interested them, but the advert had to be in their own words, in French and in any electronic format of their choice. The winning team was the one that created the most successful advert for Scotland for French-speaking visitors.
2018 is Scotland’s Year of Young People and it was fantastic to see these young people engaging with us. It is important for us to work in partnership with schools and to inspire students to look at tourism as a great career option.
