UK hospitality sector 5th largest and could set the pace for economic recovery

A study released yesterday by Oxford Economics and commissioned by the British Hospitality Association (BHA) shows that the hospitality industry directly employs 2.4 million people plus indirectly employs a further 1.2 million. This makes it the 5th largest sector in the UK economy.
The report was introduced at the House of Commons by chief executive Ufi Ibrahim.  Addressing David Cameron’s pledge earlier this year to make Britain one of the top five tourist destinations in the world Ufi commented,
“China is a country that has officially adopted tourism as one of the five pillars of its economy. There, hospitality and tourism is an engine for job creation and the country has invested heavily in infrastructure, in hospitality skills and education. Already, it is the second largest tourism economy in the world, second only to the United States. The United Kingdom is seventh.”
Despite her warnings the report has forecast the potential for the UK hospitality sector to create a further 236,000 jobs by 2015, Ufi once again made it clear that government backing would be essential to see this forecast realised,
“We have a tremendous opportunity to see substantial and beneficial growth from the sector at a time when the country is emerging from recession and needs all the jobs that can be created – jobs which hospitality can provide. But to be able to do this, we must have an enduring commitment from the government at the highest level.”
David Michels, former Hilton chief executive who is now president of the BHA echoed Ufi’s concerns,
“The hospitality economy is one of the country’s key industries with huge growth prospects in jobs. Our task now is to work with government, individual companies, other organisations and agencies to ensure that this growth can be achieved.”
The report detailed that The core hospitality economy (defined as hotels, restaurants and related services, catering and event management) has an estimated turnover of £90bn and is worth £46bn to the UK economy in GVA (wage and profits), contributing an estimated £34bn in gross tax revenues.
These figures and the BHA report are promising signs for the sector and Hotel and Restaurant jobs in particular. We have seen a steady increase in Hotel investment over the past year and these figures show that the next few years look positive indeed for UK hospitality jobs.