Failing to fill these vacancies, said WTTC chief Julia Simpson, could "threaten the survival" of UK travel and tourism businesses. The UK is not alone, though, with similar trends being seen in other European countries.

One inevitable consequence is equivalent rises in pay. Back in June (2021), City AM was reporting wage rises in the sector of up to 14% - simply to retain staff. Travel and tourism’s problem is that it is in competition with other sectors, which are also responding. Only in December, Harrods averted strike action by its restaurant and hospitality staff by awarding them a 25% pay rise.

So how can your business respond? To quote former Harvard president Derek Bok: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” Leaders in travel and tourism must find a return on investment in skills development. Yes, businesses are cash-strapped post-pandemic, but upskilling drives positive outcomes in two key areas.

Firstly, people engagement – using education, training and upskilling to retain and motivate existing staff, and attract new talent with the promise of progression. And secondly, financially – if salaries are increasing, how can you achieve greater productivity to pay for more highly paid workers?

With every sector competing for the same limited talent, travel, tourism and hospitality is being left behind. What’s more, this looks set to be a long-term trend. Income inequalities that have been growing since the 1980s may now go into reverse, demonstrated by the UK government’s "levelling-up" agenda.

Another shift is also under way, where practical and caring skills – which have been undervalued for years – are now being re-calibrated positively against a surfeit of “knowledge-based” qualifications. Embedding personal and professional development into a company’s DNA will be critical to addressing the challenges highlighted above.

But what a problem this is proving to be. A PwC report from January 2022 found 80% of chiefs saw successful upskilling as their greatest business challenge. So if a strong case exists for making an investment, how do you make sure it is worth the time and money?

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills found British employers are investing tens of billions in training, an equivalent of £1,500 per employee. Unfortunately, it also found precious few organisations were successfully maximising returns on this investment.

Given business people will always want to generate the maximum possible benefit for a minimum cost, here are seven tips to bear in mind in formulating a successful skills programme:

• Set clear objectives – what does your business need in terms of knowledge, skills and behaviours? Give careful thought to current shortfalls and what “good outcomes may look like” in the future. Seek outside opinions to double check your assumptions.
  
  
• Secure employee buy-in – there is nothing worse than your staff dragging their feet to a training session, wondering why they need to attend. Experts believe that in the economy of the future, retooling will be required every six months. Awaken their sense of responsibility that your investment will positively benefit their future careers. Moreover, strive to maintain ongoing engagement. Building strong resilient careers also builds strong, healthy businesses.
  
  
• Capture institutional expertise – we all know of the “grey hairs” in our business who have accumulated decades of knowledge, but this all remains in their head. Look for ways to leverage and broadcast this expertise.
  
  
• Create the right environment – whether in person or online, make sure your people are able to focus on their learning and aren’t distracted by outside pressures of work or their daily lives.
  
  
• Utilise best-in-class technology – high value sectors like telecoms and pharmaceuticals increasingly leverage “ed-tech" platforms. These are engineered to optimise user engagement through course structure and techniques like gamification. They also gather invaluable trainee data for driving smart decision making. Moreover, costs are reducing all the time, putting them within the reach of cash-strapped tourism companies.
  
  
• Take advantage of funding – in the UK, the government will finance up to 90% of apprenticeship training costs. Such courses have the real value of equal recognition (in UCAS points) to academic qualifications.
  
  
• Measure and evaluate – a simple measure is to monitor how learning has been applied in the workplace. This facilitates productivity improvements to be measured using your in-house KPIs. Travel has grown accustomed to A/B testing for marketing, and similar discipline can be applied to skills development. After mastering the basics, these can be developed into more sophisticated financial models covering a range of costs and benefits. And don’t forget to scope key elements such as savings in recruitment costs, which will be the result of a strong retention policy

Patrick Richards is founder director of sustainability consultancy TerraVerde, and a non-executive director of LVG Learning.

• On Thursday 24 February, the team at LVG Learning and Networking will bring together a panel of experts from travel and the broader economy to discuss real-world solutions during a session entitled: "Skills Development – expense or revenue generator? Is educating your team a smart investment, and if so, how? The event will get under way at 10am GMT. Anyone wishing to attend should send business contact details to info@lvglearning.com.