Thousands of young people will tear open their A-Level results letters this week and make one of the biggest decisions of their lives – what comes next?
University, an apprenticeship, a first job? For our industry, it is one of the most important days of the year, and most of us aren't even in the room.
That should worry us. Travel rarely features in the conversations happening in schools and colleges.
When the Careers & Enterprise Company surveyed more than 233,000 young people, travel and tourism didn't make the top ten career aspirations for Year 11 students. It wasn't even offered as an option. An entire generation is being asked to choose a future from a menu that leaves us off it entirely.
The consequences are already showing. A Buckinghamshire New University white paper found that 34% of tourism, hospitality and events students and graduates are working outside the sector, despite more than three-quarters saying they enrolled intending to build careers within it.
Read that again. These are people who actively chose our industry, and then walked away. We are not simply failing to attract talent; we are losing the talent that already wanted us.
We need to tell a better story
This is not a problem of opportunity. UK outbound travel contributes £83 billion in gross value added to the economy, supports 370,000 jobs and generates £52 billion in retail sales, according to Abta's Outbound Travel – a catalyst for jobs, growth and wellbeing report.
More than one in five tourism vacancies are linked to skills shortages. The jobs are there. The careers are there. What's missing is the story.
Is it because travel has an image problem? Ask most people what we do and they'll picture travel consultants, cabin crew and tour reps. Those roles matter enormously and always will, but they are a fraction of what a modern travel business runs on.
We employ software developers, data analysts, finance professionals, marketers, sustainability leaders, cybersecurity specialists, legal experts and commercial strategists. We are a sophisticated, global, technology-driven industry. We're just not telling that story well enough.
Young people need to know we have a place for them
Fixing this means widening the front door. University is one route, but not the only one. Apprenticeships in leisure, travel and tourism are delivering, with achievement rates reaching 67.9% in 2023/24.
With NEET levels – those not in education, employment or training – at historic highs, offering credible, well-paid vocational routes into travel isn't only good for our talent pipeline, it's good for the country.
But recruitment cannot begin at graduation. It has to start in schools, with careers advisers and with parents who understand travel is a serious profession offering long-term, fulfilling careers. That is on us to communicate.
We need to get into our local schools. Open up our apprenticeship routes. Talk about the full breadth of what we do. The young people collecting their results this summer are the future leaders of our industry, and it’s our job to make sure they know there's a place for them here.
If we invest in talent long before we are trying to fill vacancies, we build an industry that lasts.
Lee Ison-Ainsworth is the Advantage Travel Partnership's Membership and Strategy Director. He was a member of the TTG 30 Under 30 Class of 2018, and also sits on the ITT's Education and Training Committee.