Hospitality and restaurant businesses from the Heathrow area have joined forces to pledge 1066 new job opportunities for young people by 2015. The pledges were made at the British Hospitality Association (BHA)’s Big Hospitality Conversation held at The Renaissance Hotel, Heathrow on 17th March.
The job opportunities pledged include 316 jobs, 325 apprenticeships and 425 paid work experience opportunities which will help to reduce youth unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds in the area. A range of top hospitality businesses made the pledges, including Arora Hotels, Millenium & Copthorne Hotels, Premier Inn, Marriott and Bartlett Mitchell.
Led by the BHA in partnership with Springboard, Business in the Community and Barclays, the Big Hospitality Conversation is the BHA’s biggest ever jobs drive, designed to help tackle youth unemployment as well as embracing a common approach to work placements, internships and apprenticeships. Speakers at the Heathrow event included Surinder Arora, chief executive of Arora Hotels; John Forrest, chief operating officer of Premier Inn; Paul Davies, general manager of Heathrow Windsor Marriott Hotel; and Anna Dowling, general manager of Sofitel London Heathrow.
Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the BHA, says: “We are delighted with the 1066 pledges for the Heathrow area. This demonstrates local businesses working collaboratively to offer new opportunities for young people, and this is a fantastic boost to tackling youth unemployment figures in the local community. Research shows that the hospitality industry has the potential to generate over 200,000 jobs by 2015, which is half of the government’s Youth Contract target for the next three years. The pledges received at the Heathrow Big Hospitality Conversation are a positive step.”
Big Hospitality Conversation events targeting the hospitality and restaurant industry will be held across the UK throughout 2014. Here are the dates for your diary:
- 25th March in Wandsworth, London
- 2nd April in Bournemouth
- 29th April at Hotelympia in London
- 12th May in Manchester
- 20th May in Glasgow
