The Hospitality and Tourism Skills Board met in London late last month with Alistair Rowland, Midcounties Co-operative’s chief of specialist retail and Abta chair, sitting among its members, comprising business leaders from leisure, domestic and inbound tourism.

Rowland told TTG a key issue he would aim to address was ensuring the two new T Level courses for the tourism and hospitality industry – currently still under development – were “as fair and relevant as possible” for the outbound leisure sector.

Available from September, T Levels will act as a third further education option for 16- to 18-year-olds, offering students a mixture of classroom learning and workplace experience.

Rowland said current apprenticeship options in tourism and hospitality were “far too broad”. “It’s good having that wide funnel at the top, but it needs to be specialised to suit our industry, as selling and servicing travel is complex.”

He added as part of the task force he would also voice concerns over the cost to businesses of taking on travel- specialist apprentices – currently valued at £9,000 per apprentice – compared with far lower sums for other sectors.