Supporting the tourism and hospitality workforce

During Scottish Tourism Month, Senior Partnership Manager David Allen highlights how The Open University (OU) is supporting the tourism and hospitality sector to recruit and retain staff following the dual challenges of Brexit and COVID-19.

As part of our work in engaging the key sectors across Scotland that have been most acutely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit over recent years, Scottish tourism and hospitality has been one of the hardest hit sectors after facing multiple and lengthy lockdown periods.  

This has been coupled with a shortage of labour and skilled migrant workers due to stricter immigration rules, and now many of these businesses have had to close over the winter period or reduce their trading hours and offer due to rising energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis.

As a result, staff recruitment and retention has been severely hampered for the sector. 

Through the support of the Scottish Funding Council’s Upskilling Fund, the OU in Scotland has been able to offer those undertaking Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland Scholarships the opportunity to study for a fully-funded Microcredential course, across a variety of subject areas.

From this month, we have 10 HIT Scholars beginning studies for a range of different Microcredential courses, which includes People Management and Leadership, Accounting, Agile Leadership and Management, and Climate Change.  

The content of HIT Scotland Scholarships are tailored to the personal development objectives of each applicant and the scholarship they have applied for – giving them new skills, best practice knowledge and new approaches to thinking. As part of our support for the sector and the work of HIT Scotland, we plan to build this into our annual programme of work.

The HIT Scotland Scholarships have done a power of good in supporting businesses and individuals.

They have an integral role to play in recovery for the sector and the professional development of the workforce. 

We are involved in a broader programme of work to engage the tourism and hospitality sector about the range of flexible distance learning opportunities that The Open University in Scotland can offer to upskill and reskill their workforces.

This is of particular benefit to rural and island businesses, which continue to struggle to recruit and keep staff.  

There are opportunities for small and medium-sized tourism and hospitality businesses to access up to £5,000 to undertake free skills training with us.

Funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Funding Council, there are opportunities for small and medium-sized tourism and hospitality businesses to access up to £5,000 to undertake free skills training with us through the Flexible Workforce Development Fund.  

At the same time, Apprenticeship Levy-paying employers such as bigger hotel groups can access training up to the value of £15,000 to support staff development.  

We have also recently become an official Patron of The Scottish Tourism Alliance, which is the overarching trade body and voice for tourism and hospitality in Scotland. 

We are now working in partnership with other leading universities across Scotland through a newly formed ‘Higher Education Partners Network’, designed to help improve the ways in which universities can engage, support, and facilitate business growth and improvement across the sector. 

We are fully invested in supporting the vision of the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030.

Through this network we can more effectively share expertise and industry insights to ensure courses and qualifications are easier to access, remain relevant and are future focussed, along with creating opportunities for ongoing industry continued professional development, internships and work placements. 

At the OU in Scotland, we are fully invested in supporting the vision of the national tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, for the country to be the world leader in 21st century tourism. 

By supporting learning opportunities, we can help to attract, train and retain the next generation of tourism and hospitality professionals – ensuring that we have lots of skilled and talented people to deliver a world-leading visitor experience.  

24 March 2023