The Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is an umbrella term that is used to describe a variety of service sectors, including food service, tourism, hotels, resorts, and casinos. However, the term can also be applied liberally to include businesses associated with the above or extend as far as to define vacation homes and condominiums as part of said industry. The hospitality industry is very diverse, and the economy almost exclusively dictates the sector, which is one of the world’s largest.
The hospitality industry is a 3.5 trillion dollar global and cyclical service sector that fluctuates with and is driven by the economy. In 2006, the hospitality industry experienced strong revenues from the hotel sector. The revenues surpassed the sizable expense-growth and resulted in double-digit increases in hospitality stocks. The average hotel manger made a 13.3 percent increase in operating costs. Because of the relatively favorable supply and demand for the hospitality industry in 2006, operators and managers gained an average of 8.2 percent in increased revenues. However, with the increase in demand, operating costs also grew significantly by 6.3 percent, and last year was the third successive year hospitality expenses doubled the rate of inflation.
The US alone announced a total of 2 million dollars in investments to fill the burgeoning needs of the industry’s vast workforce. The investments came after the US Department of Labor (DOL) hosted forums with the industry’s leaders to address the industry’s labor concerns and to find a means to solving the industry’s workforce issues. The industry is so vast, however, that addressing and correcting labor shortages and turnover proved difficult challenges. The DOL is currently attempting to implement a workforce strategy to deal with the processes of hiring, training, and retaining hospitality industry employees, but finding a strategy that takes several hospitality industry issues, such as image, recruitment, and training models, into consideration has become a complex project.
The hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In most countries, it is primarily comprised of a mobile and youthful workforce who fulfill the roles of kitchen workers, caterers, cleaners, bar attendants, and managers. The industry provides the world with countless job opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds and cultures. The work is traditionally the same around the world, which makes job transferring and relocation within the sector an easy transition. Women particularly benefit from the diversity of the industry because it provides them with both flexible and consistent work within areas they are already familiar.