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The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has predicted that the industry will create 500,000 new jobs in the next five years.
According to two reports from the BHA and Ignite Economics, the hospitality industry’s contribution to the UK economy has grown faster than any other sector since 2008.
The research showed that labour productivity in the industry had grown at more than double the rate of the overall economy while confirming that the hospitality industry was the fourth largest in the UK.
The industry currently employs 4.6 million people directly and indirectly and last year it contributed £161bn to the overall economy as well as £15bn in exports and £38bn in direct tax receipts.
The research also concluded that 17% of all jobs in the UK were related to the hospitality and tourism sector.
Ufi Ibrahim, the chief executive of the BHA stated that the industry needed to “reduce the dependence on EU workers” as well as attracting more UK talent to the sector.
She added: “The two reports, into productivity and economic contribution, show the colossal value of hospitality and tourism to the economy and the wellbeing of the country, but points out that the growth outlook is highly uncertain, given the pressures of falling real living standards, the costs of implementing the National Living Wage, increases in business rates and the potential lack of labour following exit from the EU.
“We need the Government to step up and support our industry by reducing tourism VAT – allowing the Low Pay Commission to set the National Living Wage and to bring forward a fundamental review of Business Rates.”
