The Hospitality Sector

Supporting the Hospitality Workforce

The UK hospitality sector has been grappling with persistent shortage of skilled workers for many years. This was further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and Britain’s exit from the EU; urgent action is needed to remedy this skills gap. The LSIP report highlights the importance of upskilling hospitality workers to help address these ongoing challenges and strengthen the support for hospitality industry employers.

Our engagement with employers and stakeholders from the Hospitality sector provided in depth insight into the skills challenges and provided trends influencing the supply of skills within the industry across Solent. Read more insights from our roundtable discussion on pages 6 to 11 of the presentation found below:

The demand for hospitality jobs in the Solent region is largely driven by the strong tourism and visitor attractions in Portsmouth and Southampton, as well as the key sights and natural beauty of the New Forest. Since 2018, the Isle of Wight has experienced a strong demand for hospitality roles, reflecting a maturing visitor offer. Ensuring support for hospitality industry employers in these areas will be crucial to meet future demand, a topic of discussion in our roundtable event. Please read the summary of these findings here:

Additionally, employers identified several general skills shortages, including communication, teamwork, project management, sales, and business development. In line with industry trend analysis, there is a growing demand for digital skills as the sector adapts to an increasingly digital workforce. Addressing these gaps by upskilling hospitality workers is vital to ensuring the industry remains competitive. The deep dive evidence-based report explores these challenges further, and is now available here: