British staycations under threat as hotels ‘turning away guests’ due to staff shortages, BCC boss warns
The British staycation is under threat as hospitality firms struggle with staff shortages this summer, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) warned yesterday.
Shevaun Haviland said the country was “already seeing a drag on economic growth due to the lack of people in our labour market.”
Hotels had been “turning guests away” while restaurants had been forced to limit their opening hours, due to a lack of staff, Haviland said.
It comes as Brits have struggled to make it on holidays abroad so far this summer, with airlines cancelling flights at the last minute due to a shortage of cabin crew and airport staff.
A shortage of chefs and bartenders was set to wound the hospitality trade by some £21bn in lost sales, as operators slashed hours, according to a joint survey by the British Beer and Pub Association, UKHospitality and the British Institute of Innkeeping.
This amounted to an estimated £5bn loss in tax for the country’s coffers.
The industry currently has a record 174,000 vacancies open at the moment, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
“The sector must be given targeted support in order to solve the crisis,” the trade bodies said.