Hospitality in the News - 28 November 2019

TW: thinkingdifferently

Where is everybody?

In the UK we are very aware of the impact Brexit is having on the supply of labour in the hospitality industry, but were you aware that the whole hospitality industry in the developed world faces a long term labour supply shortage as a result of there being fewer babies? The fertility rate is the number of babies per woman. The replacement level – the total fertility rate needed in developed countries to keep the population constant - is 2.1. The OECD average in 2018 is 1.6. In South Korea it's 0.98. In Italy it's 1.4. In the USA it was 1.8 in 2016 and is falling. In fact, in the US, the fertility rate has fallen 15% since 2007. The financial crisis of 2008 put the skids on baby making, with a sharp decline in fertility rates, and the improvement in the economy since has not been matched by a reverse. Globally, the population is rising through a mixture of people living longer and higher fertility rates in the developing world. The impact of this is many many years away, but unless borders come down and global movement of people becomes easier, businesses planning long term need to consider how fewer babies (and therefore people of working age) will impact the hospitality industry.

Of course, this challenge presents an opportunity for robotics, automation and tech to provide a solution. #TravelTech

Read more

Did you know?

There is an official Transportation Security Administration guide to determine which Thanksgiving foods should go in a carry-on or checked bag… Happy Thanksgiving y'all!