Lisbon, 14 January 2022 (TDI): The World Trade and Tourism Council (WTTC) reports that Portugal has witnessed a 19.6% drop in travel and tourism jobs representing over 92,000 occupations.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect several industries across the world. The labor market has witnessed a crisis around the world with many positions being left unfilled. In addition, the recovery of these industries will also be hindered due to the prevailing pandemic situation.
Likewise, the labor market is slated to witness another shortfall of around 53,000 employees, the labor supply for 2022 is set to be 11% below the demand. Furthermore, labor demand at the end of 2021 stood at 475,000 with a shortfall of 85,000 which roughly translates to a ratio of 18%.
A similar trend can be seen all over the European Union (EU) as Spain’s travel and tourism sector saw a drop of 19.5% in employment representing a loss of 202,000 jobs. Italy lost about 215,000 jobs (a drop of 12.4%) while France saw a loss of 138,000 jobs.
“At present, staff shortage is a key issue for the travel and tourism sector, and while supply and demand are set to adjust gradually during 2022, the problem is likely to remain. In fact, the sector’s recovery is contingent on its ability to solve this issue and to be able to meet the returning demand for travel,” WTTC noted in its report.
The World Trade and Tourism Council is also pushing countries to work towards safer working environments through remote work amidst the pandemic and also recommends upskilling workers so as to adapt to changes caused by the virus while also promoting training, education, and internships in the relevant sectors.
Recently, Europe has seen a net loss of €987 billion, as the global travel and tourism body took a major hit. Further, domestic spending in Europe fell by approximately 48.4% while international spending saw a shortfall of 63.8%.
){kind=link}