NEWS Immigration system could prompt labour crisis By Samantha Mayling
The hospitality industry fears “a chronic skills shortage” after the government announced that a future immigration system will prioritise high-skilled workers. Trade association UKHospitality
warned that the prime minister’s promise of a drop in low-skilled migration following Brexit will have a significant impact on hospitality jobs. Theresa May also said there
would be no preferential treatment for people from the European Union over those from the rest of the world. UKHospitality chief executive
Kate Nicholls said: “A system based
solely on high skills and high wages will not work for hospitality where we have labour shortages. “The sector employs over three
Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands invests £450,000 in Mayflower project An enhanced Pilgrims Trail will
Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands has given a grant of almost £450,000 to the Pilgrim Roots project. The grant is part of a £776,00
investment in the project – a partnership led by Bassetlaw District Council with support from West Lindsey District Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Bassetlaw Christian Heritage and the University of Lincoln. The money will help tell the
story of Mayflower Pilgrims William Bradford and William Brewster, who escaped religious persecution in the area and eventually sailed on the Mayflower to America in 1620. Bassetlaw District Council hopes
the investment will help to put the region at the forefront of the Mayflower 400 commemorations in 2020, which will mark the voyage’s 400th anniversary. The funding will help create a Pilgrims Gallery at Bassetlaw Museum, Retford, that will tell visitors about the Pilgrims and the views of native Americans they encountered.
6 TravelGBI | November 2018
be created with new interpretation boards, along with a new website featuring history, news and events. The funding will allow Bassetlaw District Council to employ two new members of staff to tell the story of how the Pilgrims’ journey began. The heritage engagement officer
will visit schools and groups, while the heritage support officer will work with tour operators and visitors to ensure churches are open, tour guides organised, transport arranged and hotels and
restaurants booked. ◗ The inaugural Mayflower 400 Business Networking Event took place last month, with industry leaders discussing how to make the most of the estimated £440 million impact of the Mayflower anniversary in 2020.
Business leaders joined diplomats
and MPs at London’s Guildhall to deepen the engagement with the City of London’s leaders and other
city organisations.
mayflower400uk.org pilgrimroots.org
“Many hospitality businesses
have struggled to find willing British workers and, with changing demographics and low unemployment, we are facing the very real danger of chronic skills shortages.”
Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality chief executive
million people, many of whom are migrant workers, but under the new policy 90% of these roles could not be filled under planned changes.
Nicholls concluded: “UKHospitality has repeatedly flagged that is it illogical to place so much emphasis on the economic worth of individuals, rather than the wider benefits they bring to the UK. “We will be pressing the
government for a sensible and pragmatic lower skilled migrant worker route for the hospitality
sector.”
ukhospitality.org.uk
TOURIST TAX CONSULTATION: The City of Edinburgh Council has begun a citywide consultation on plans to introduce a tourist tax. Councillors suggested the levy could raise £11 million each year, to support tourism and alleviate the impact of overcrowding. It proposes a charge of either 2% or £2 per room, per night, for the ‘transient visitor levy’. Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said the tourism body was disappointed by the consultation. “The Scottish government has been consistent in its position that it has no plans for a tax on tourists and that the interests of the hospitality and tourism industry must be fully taken into account through consultation,” he said. “The time has come for an objective, well-informed national, rather than local debate following the conduct of independent research.”
scottishtourismalliance.co.uk ◗ For more Scottish tourism news, see p46-48
travelgbi.com
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