UKinbound addresses UK language skills crisis

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Brexit and decline of language training in the UK has led to a growing language skills gap in the UK tourism industry.

According to the research carried by Canterbury Christ Church University there is a lack of capacity in the UK’s education system. It fails to meet the shortfall in catering to the language skills which is of immense need by the UK inbound tourism industry.

The tourism organisation are hugely dependent on the EU national for technical and ‘soft’ language skills but there is a growing concern in the industry regarding the shortage of these employees.

UK saw the departure of 130,000 EU nationals in the year to September 2017 considered to be the highest number since 2008. After the changes in the government policy since 2002 there has been a sharp decline in the number of young people pursuing a foreign language. They lacked awareness of opportunities and career path open to language proficient graduates in the tourism and hospitality sector.

Among the 78 institutions that offer tourism/hospitality undergraduate progammes in the UK only 25 offer language learning. Only six percent of the postgraduate tourism/hospitality offer language as an optional module.

Deirdre Wells, chief executive officer, UKinbound wants the working in tourism to be effectively communicated with the international visitors and tour operators and they need employees can confidently negotiate contracts with overseas operators and suppliers.

She stated that UK is the current fifth most visited country in the world and its inbound tourism industry contributed approximately £25 billion to the UK economy in 2017.

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