A lot of industries have been hit hard due to the pandemic, such as hospitality, aviation and events. But you don’t need to stay clear of these companies as they will and are recovering. What you need to do is look at businesses as an individual, not as a collective. In aid of this, companies should be transparent about their situation, in terms of loss, turnover, and so on. This should give you confidence in applying for roles in these sectors and save you from missing out on great opportunities!
It’s important, now more than ever, for you to do your research on the company as an individual, understand the facts, and ask questions about how well that company is doing in terms of their losses, stability, future plans. A lot of adjustments have been made such as virtual events, for example. Don’t just reject a good role on the basis of the pandemic. Although it may seem like a good reason, these organisations will, and in some cases, have, bounced back.
Aviation
The past year has been an incredibly difficult one for the aviation sector across all functions and areas of the world. After such a significant period of financial loss, one of the most pressing questions is – will aviation recover from this huge setback? Industry experts predict a return to pre-covid levels as consumers are able to travel again as restrictions are lifted. There is optimism in the air for the coming years with predictions for gradual regrowth of the sector. One of the key factors as a positive sign for aviation recovery is the consumer demand for travel.
After the long periods of lockdown and continued restrictions, people are keen to travel as soon as they can to get a welcome change of scenery or to visit far away friends and family. In addition to this, changes to spending patterns mean that consumers have saved money during the pandemic – an average of £130 billion across the UK. This gives a positive outlook that people will have money to spend on air travel, which bodes well for the recovery of airlines and the sector as a whole.
A gradual return to prosperity is expected over the next couple of years. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast that both revenue and passenger numbers will return to pre-covid levels by 2023. They expect to see steady growth over the next couple of years.
Clouds are lifting as confidence returns to the airline industry. Optimism is spreading with the highest number of planes in the sky since the start of the pandemic. The new upbeat mood has prompted the region’s airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair to plan a ramp-up in their flying schedules during the late summer.
There are many reasons to be buoyant about the recovery of the aviation industry. For example, Ryanair has planned 5,000 new jobs as the pandemic eases for pilots, cabin crew and engineers over the next five years, and the group is excited to have, earlier this week, opened a 50-million-euro (£43 million) Aviation Training Centre in Dublin. Ryanair will open 10 new bases across Europe this year as they work with airport partners to help them recover traffic and jobs post-Covid.
Original data showed that passenger numbers would grow by just 33% over the next five years, however latest predictions show that a rise of 17% to 50% with bosses now expecting 225 million people to fly with them by March 2026 – 25 million more than previous targets.
Ryanair’s plans to expand also come just days after EasyJet announced plans to raise £1.2bn to fund a post-Covid expansion, meaning lots of new jobs. The Irish giant has been rapidly restoring capacity as the airline returns to growth following the coronavirus slump. The Dublin-based carrier will need to add aviation crew to meet demand from an expanded Boeing Co. 737 fleet. The airline expects passenger numbers to more than double to 200 million a year by 2025, after the addition of 210 Boeing 737 Max narrow-bodies. Ryanair expects to exceed pre-Covid passenger numbers – 149 million passengers in 2019 – by 2022.
This expansion comes as the airline industry starts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with the global rollout of vaccinations easing government concerns about border controls. The UK plans to revamp its traffic-light border rules this month and may ease test requirements for arrivals to make it easier to visit. This recovery is largely down to this easing of US and UK travel restrictions, breathing new life into European airline stocks. For example, Virgin Atlantic reported a 600% surge in flight bookings to the US.
British Airways owner IAG SA has been the star of the show recently, soaring 21% after the White House said America would open up to vaccinated foreigners and the UK relaxed coronavirus testing requirements for fully jabbed arrivals. Investors were buoyed up by changes – which could include removing dozens of destinations from the 62-country ‘red list’. Ministers are also considering removing the amber list category of countries entirely.
The relaxation of rules, which could include scrapping the requirement for fully vaccinated people to take PCR tests upon returning to the UK, also provided a boost to the package holiday group Tui, with a near 5% lift in shares making it one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 250. This is the jolt of energy the travel industry desperately needed after months of uncertainty.
Even some legacy airlines are showing real signs of optimism. Air France-KLM, for example, said it was confident it would return to profit this quarter. Both Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG have rallied strongly. Companies are now in a better position to bring people on board as air travel begins to recover as it hires a variety of roles such as pilots, cabin crew, and engineers. Aviation can recover strongly from the Covid pandemic and deliver higher-than-expected growth in both traffic and jobs over the next five years.
Ultimately, there is optimism in domestic markets where aviation’s hallmark resilience is demonstrated by rebounds in markets without internal travel restrictions. Effectively restarting aviation will energise the travel and tourism sectors and the wider economy. Owing to government relief measures, cost-cutting, and success in accessing capital markets, most airlines appear able to ride out the storm. Airlines are jostling for position for the recovery. The demand for flights is more than there, so this industry is going nowhere. It could be more than ever a better time to apply for a role in aviation!
Events
In the events sector, the Chancellor and Culture Secretary launched an £800 million UK Live Events Reinsurance Scheme officially opened to help give festivals, conferences and live events to cover Covid-related cancellation costs so they can plan with confidence through to summer 2022. The Scheme will support live events across the country – such as concerts and festivals, conferences and business events – that are at risk of being cancelled or delayed due to an inability to obtain Covid-19 cancellation insurance.
The live events sector is worth more than £70 billion annually to the UK’s economy and supports more than 700,000 jobs, including small businesses and the self-employed. Interventions such as this which support the UK’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, make clear that this industry is one they won’t let fall to the wayside. It comes on top of the extensive support already given to the cultural sector, including the £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund and the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart scheme. The latter has supported over 785 productions and more than 67,000 screen sector jobs in the last 12 months. The fantastic events sector has been given a boost, helping the economy, and protecting livelihoods.
New-age tech is influencing the events industry too. With virtual events becoming the reality in this new normal era and the events industry also catering hybrid events, new technology is a real shot in the arm for the events sector, if you’ll pardon the pun. Recent trends show traditional events or seminars are upgrading by leveraging new-age technologies. From projections to mapping, huge stage screens, VR, and automated bots, a wide range of cool tech is seen at events today. Virtual and hybrid events offer more flexible options to audiences, ensuring that they can maintain more control over their own schedules. Virtual event platforms allow attendees to easily choose the content with which they engage, at a time and a place to suit them. With investment and development like this, it’s clear to see that events remains on the cutting-edge and it’s an exciting time to secure a role in events. Recovery is a matter of time for the events industry.
Both business and leisure events are set to play a major role in the recovery of the UK economy and event organisers are eager to take advantage of growing demand and optimise business opportunities. Events are going nowhere too – the government has made that a certainty. It creates too much value for the economy. The events industry has been one of the most affected by the ongoing government restrictions. From wedding planners to festival organisers, people have had to find other ways of making an income, for some, this meant changing industries completely. But with restrictions now lifted for most events and festivals, it’s exciting to see the industry picking up again, and the increase of event jobs being advertised.
Hospitality
Travel is normalising, with hospitality professionals predicting a full recovery in 2022. Over half of respondents of 500 industry professionals, including investors, travel tech suppliers, members of the travel industry, thought-leaders and professional hosts and property management companies predicted 2022 to be the year of complete travel recovery. People are planning on travelling longer, further and more smartly to make up for lost time and cancelled celebrations. There is a bright future in hospitality. The hospitality industry is resilient, best showcased by the last year. It’s also clearly poised for growth thanks to the wide-spread pent-up demand for travel, whether domestic or international.
Business turnover also reflected this change, showing higher revenue in early 2021 than in spring 2020. In May 2020, turnover was just over £1.2 billion, compared with £3.4 billion in March 2021. This rose further to £6.9 billion by May 2021 after restrictions were partially eased, the highest figure since August 2020. This revival was particularly strong for the restaurant and mobile food service activities sub-sector where turnover in May 2021 was £3.3 billion, five and a half times what it was in May 2020.
Hotel room occupancy has grown since 2020. Hotels experienced a 52% occupancy rate in 2021, up from 44% in 2020. Also, revenue is recovering and workers are coming back. It is important to determine what hotel chains are planning. The biggest hotel chains—such as Marriott International; Hilton Worldwide Holdings; Accor; Wyndham Worldwide Corporation; Hyatt Hotel Corporation—are all preparing for a rebound.
New technologies abound, such as self-check-ins and check-outs, touchless payments, app-based services, augmented or virtual reality, and more. For hospitality organisations, this should be seen as an invitation to innovate and invest in digital technology. As authorities lift public-health restrictions and reopen the economy, the hospitality sector can turn its attention to recovering from the shock of lockdown. Those that do so effectively will be well positioned to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities that are emerging. The hospitality sector is poised to emerge from the pandemic and do business once more. The pandemic will eventually fade. The economy will recover, and the hospitality sector—from restaurants to hotels, casinos to sports—will regain its footing and look forward with confidence to a successful, thriving future. Companies will adapt to the new normal, position themselves, and thrive in the years ahead.
The hospitality sector is suffering a 30% plus shortfall in workers say recruiters. The hospitality industry is crying out for workers – and it could prove a chance to climb the career ladder. The lack of experienced staff that could fill roles means that now, more than ever, jobseekers stand a higher chance to landing a well-paying senior or management role. Even if you land a junior job there’s the potential to escalate rapidly up the career ladder if you do well. Postings in the sector are now 14 per cent above 1 Feb 2020, pre-pandemic levels, on a seasonally adjusted basis. A salary for a hotel and restaurant manager can be £60,000 and above and you can make a really good living in the industry as well.
The possible stigma about the hospitality industry is incorrect. There are amazing career opportunities. It’s possible to get a well-paying role within the industry – even if you don’t have experience. Businesses now consider attitude as a skill rather than experience. If you can demonstrate good communication, resilience and attention to detail you have a good opportunity to get a good management role. Having a job in hospitality is a good place to start – you learn valuable foundational skills like customer service and communication, desired in businesses. Employers will be more confident in those soft skills which include communication, humility and collaboration. It’s not just a pulling-pints and making-beds industry, there are areas like sales and marketing, HR, finance, digital where you can progress really quickly.
Final thoughts
There is a general feeling of doom and gloom around the hospitality, events and aviation industries when it comes to candidates applying for roles – all due to the pandemic. But now is the time to stop looking at companies belonging to these sectors as a collective monolith, rather, as individual businesses with their own growth and recovery plans – and some are well on their way. The pandemic is just a blip and there are still great opportunities within these organisations. These industries are fine to work in as long as you have done your research. You could be missing a trick.
