05 Sep
2022

ABTA creates new assets and services to support Members’ recruitment needs

ABTA is announcing a range of measures to help its Members attract and retain employees, backing ABTA’s ongoing work in this area.  They include tailored social media campaigns and assets, unique training courses for new staff, new and updated information on abta.com, close work with leading HR experts and help in harnessing the knowledge and enthusiasm of recent graduates.

Social media have an important role to play in communicating to prospective staff and ABTA has created new social media assets designed to spread the word that the travel industry is a great place to work. As well as running this campaign through ABTA’s own social media channels, ABTA is putting advertising spend behind it to ensure good awareness across channels such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Members can also download ABTA’s assets from the Marketing Toolkit in its Member Zone section of abta.com, to use in their own recruitment campaigns.

As well as giving general information on careers in the travel industry, a new updated careers page on abta.com acts as a ‘mini-portal’ linking to other websites where there are live job opportunities being advertised. Other web pages cover ABTA’s work with the education sector and other partners, supporting those at the start of their travel career journey.

Graduates are a particularly important source of motivated and enthusiastic staff and ABTA’s 15 university and college Education Partners can and do appoint ABTA Regional Student Representatives. These students are mentored by an ABTA Member or Partner working or operating in their region. The programme is intended to build links between travel educators and travel employers and help employers to understand more about the skills these students have to offer the sector. 

Recruitment advice from experts is essential and ABTA has two travel recruitment specialist Partners, one of which provides a recruitment helpline for Members. Both can help Members with their travel recruitment issues. Two other ABTA Partners provide an apprenticeship helpline to ABTA Members and are specialists in a range of apprenticeships. 

New staff will clearly benefit from good quality training and ABTA’s events programme this autumn has an increased focus on training to support people who are new to the sector and who quickly need to become familiar with all things travel. Courses include An Introduction to Travel, Complaints Handling Training for Travel, Managing the Workforce and Employment Law, and An Essential Guide to the Package Travel Regulations. There is also a free online training in the ABTA Knowledge Zone which has a range of modules suitable both for people who are new to travel and for those who have been in the sector for some time. 

ABTA is also represented on the Aviation Industry Skills Board (AISB) along with a number of ABTA Members, aviation employers and stakeholders. The Board aims to raise professionalism in the sector through the development of skills in the workforce. 

Mark Tanzer ABTA Chief Executive said: “ABTA is keenly aware that our Members, as well as many other sections of the travel industry, are facing serious challenges in a highly competitive recruitment market. The new measures we have announced today, together with a reminder of the services we already offer to our Members, should go some way to helping attract staff to work in one the most rewarding and enjoyable of industries and build successful long lasting careers.”

Careers assets

Notes to editors

ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. 

The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. 

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA has around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.