An industry-wide campaign launches this week to help attract new talent into business travel.
The ‘Business Travel Ambassadors’ campaign will give a platform to those already working in the industry – at all stages of their careers – to share their stories in order to raise the profile of business travel and encourage potential candidates to pursue a career in the sector.
Spearheaded by The Business Travel Magazine and supported by the BTA, ITM and GBTA, the initiative is in direct response to the talent shortage being faced by companies across the whole eco-system.
The campaign was announced last night at the Business Travel People Awards, where the winners of the ‘Rising Star’ award were invited to become the first official Business Travel Ambassadors.
“I had the pleasure of interviewing the three shortlisted candidates for the Rising Star category and their enthusiasm and passion for their jobs shone through. In the end, the judges felt they all deserved to take this prestigious award and become our first Ambassadors for the campaign,” said Bev Fearis, Editor of The Business Travel Magazine.
“Hearing about their experiences, achievements and aspirations reinforces my belief that our industry has a bright future but we all have a responsibility to help spread the word and make sure we continue to attract the best people in an increasingly competitive environment.
“Those of us who share this love for our industry must become advocates for it and this is what we’re hoping to achieve with our new campaign.”
Clive Wratten, CEO of the BTA, said: “I look forward to working closely with the Business Travel Ambassadors to further understanding of business travel and to bring new talent into this great industry.”
According to the latest GBTA poll targeting industry stakeholders, 33% of respondents identified staff shortages as having a significant impact on their corporate travel programmes.
“This potentially threatens the speed and trajectory of recovery for business travel,” said Catherine Logan, Regional VP EMEA, GBTA.
“As an industry we need to quickly address this talent shortfall, build the profile of the business travel sector, the career paths and job opportunities from across the travel eco-system. GBTA are delighted to collaborate with The Business Travel Magazine, BTA and ITM to spearhead this initiative to attract new talent into the sector.”
Scott Davies, CEO ITM, added: “Attracting new and future talent into our industry has always had its challenges but is now even more pertinent given the resourcing issues in various sectors. ITM is delighted to be joining this campaign as it dovetails with our current Mentoring Programme and also our latest taskforce, which is looking at ways to identify career pathways to the buyer role and raise awareness of the travel manager role as a profession.
“It is incumbent on us all collectively as an industry to ‘sell’ business travel as a career. The industry needs to better articulate and educate potential candidates on the opportunities to develop multi-faceted skill sets, and the broad range of experience that can be gained through the diverse roles available in travel. The Business Travel Ambassadors initiative will certainly provide a valuable platform to share this message.”
Ambassadors will be invited to speak at conferences, webinars and events and in schools, colleges and universities, and their stories will be shared in The Business Travel Magazine, its website thebusinesstravelmag.com, podcasts, newsletter and on social media.
Individuals who would like to become Ambassadors, or companies and organisations who would like to support the campaign, should contact Bev Fearis at bev.fearis@bmipublishing.co.uk.
“We are looking for people across all sectors of the industry – buyers, TMCs, suppliers – and at all stages of their career. As long as the are passionate about their job and have a positive story to tell, we would like to help them share it,” added Fearis.
