Wales’ Hotels and restaurants could help create another 20,000 jobs in less than ten years according to an in –depth analysis of the sector released today (Thursday, October 13th).
The comprehensive report, by Oxford Economics, shows hospitality industry spending is now so vital to the economy in parts of Wales that they feature in Oxford’s new top ten list of UK visitor economy hotspots.
The list shows the jobs of nearly one in five people in Gwynedd and Conwy is dependant on the hospitality industry- the hotel, restaurant, catering and events sector- and that’s more than in both the local authority areas covering the high profile holiday county of Cornwall or the London Thames side international visitor venue of Westminster.
Welsh capital Cardiff earns a top twenty UK ranking with £320m a year in sector wages and profits providing 17,200 people that are directly employed in hospitality. Many other parts of Wales rely on hospitality for around one in ten local jobs and the Hospitality industry employs directly or indirectly as many people in Wales than the Agricultural and Construction industries combined.
The Oxford Economics report, “Local Economic Contribution Of UK Hospitality Industry” was commissioned by the British Hospitality Association, which represents hotel and restaurants across the UK. Oxford Economics calculate that 9,981 new jobs will be created by the sector in Wales by 2015 and that this will rise to more than 22,040 new jobs by 2020.
“This report clearly demonstrates the hospitality industry contributes massively to the economy in virtually every part of Wales,” said Andrew Evans, Chairman of BHA Wales Committee. “It means families across the length and breadth of Wales have relatives or neighbours with jobs that are completely dependent on tourism- the industry is really that essential to driving the Welsh economy.”
BHA UK Chief Executive Ufi Ibrahim said: “The Welsh Government’s decision to make tourism one of the country’s key priority sectors is very timely in the light of this report which highlights the critical importance of hospitality – and the wider tourism industry – to every local authority in Wales and to the Welsh economy in general.
“The report shows that hospitality has the potential to create more than 20,000 new jobs by 2020 providing it receives the right support. The BHA is very keen to work with the Welsh Government to grasp all available opportunities that are there in order to meet this job-creation target.”
The full list demonstrating hospitality’s huge importance every part of Wales is attached to this release.
The report identifies Gwynedd has 12,080 jobs (19.9 per cent) that are dependent on direct, indirect or induced hospitality employment of which 8.383 (13.8 per cent) are in direct hospitality employment. Gwynedd sits in eighth place in the report’s UK local authority listing. Conwy is close behind in ninth place in the UK local authority list, with 19.2 per cent (8,909 jobs) of direct, indirect or induced hospitality employment and with 6,338 (13.7 per cent) of its workforce in direct hospitality employment.
Although both feature in the top ten of UK local authority areas that are the most reliant on the hospitality industry in the UK, surprisingly, Cornwall is way behind in 20th place with a 11.6 per cent job dependency on hospitality.
This report assesses the industry’s contribution in each of the 406 Local Authority (LA) across the UK. It found the share of hospitality in total employment is generally highest in more rural, tourism-orientated economies in Wales, and the south west and north west of England. This pattern is even more pronounced when measured in GVA contribution terms where the industry is clearly a major contributor to wages and profits in areas with limited alternative wealth generating sectors.
The Isles of Scilly, in the South West, depended more in 2010 on the hospitality industry than any other local economy in the UK. Around a quarter of its jobs were either direct or multiplier hospitality jobs. At the other end of the scale, Knowsley, in the North West, was least dependent on hospitality with only 6.8% of its direct, indirect and induced jobs in hospitality.
