Incremental hiring up in travel, hospitality
Revival in domestic travel to tourist spots has seen hiring of housekeeping staff, travel consultants, tour guides, visa consultants
Chennai: Incremental hiring in the tourism and hospitality sector is expected to touch pre-pandemic levels by the end of the fourth quarter, according to staffing firm TeamLease Services.
The pandemic had hit the entire tourism and hospitality badly. However, with the easing of lockdown restrictions and higher coverage of vaccination, the sector is seeing increased traffic.
“In the third quarter demand for hiring has gone up by 20 per cent over the same quarter last year. We expect another 30 to 40 per cent rise in incremental hiring and this could take the hiring to pre-pandemic levels,” said Ajoy Thomas, business head (retail, e-commerce, logistics & transportation), TeamLease Services, based on the company’s hiring data.
Revival in domestic travel to tourist destinations has seen hiring of housekeeping staff, travel consultants, support staff, tour guide, visa consultant, holiday consultant, restaurant managers, bartenders and waiters. Majority of the surge in manpower requirements is in locations of tourist interest. Domestic tourism is rising, especially in the form of ‘staycations’, which is leading the partial recovery in the sector.
Adventure tourism, ski and snow destinations are the new emerging areas where the talent is maximum demanded. Wellness and nature holidays, back to roots, rural tourism and short road trips have emerged as popular travel choices for tourists.
In order to attract foreign tourists, the ministry has announced that the first 500,000 e-visas issued until March 2022 will be free, and the e-visa facility will be extended to 169 countries.
Foreign tourists largely travel during the summer vacations, booking for which happens in the fourth quarter.
According to Thomas, hiring for technology professionals too has been happening as the industry too is embracing new age technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and augmented reality. “Further, every job requires the professionals to be tech-savvy as the use of technology has increased post-pandemic,” he said.