The travel industry in the UAE is successfully bouncing back from the 2020 Corona virus pandemic, and business experts are thrilled that staff is being hired for companies dealing with traditional travel in the nation. Recruitment are massively being conducted for entry to mid-level designations, and the demand for employees has surged, especially for candidates that have prior experience working with the travel sector in the UAE.
Kavan Choksi– positive growth for the travel industry in the UAE
Eminent business and finance expert Kavan Choksi views this new trend in the travel industry as going to be favourable for the economic growth of the region. The advent of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in several travel companies cutting jobs, and those experienced in this sector had to move to other careers despite sufficient demand for employment in this sector.
Commitment to increase staff and their pay scale
He cites the example of ATS Travel, which specializes primarily in corporate travelling. This Company was forced to cut down on its staff from 250 personnel to 80 during the pandemic. This eminent organization has operations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and is now committed to increasing the size of its staff.
Unfortunately, many travel firms had to ask their staff, some of them highly talented, to leave because of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Now, after two years after the pandemic, it is really challenging to get the right talent in the travel industry as most of them have already moved into other career fields or companies.
Hiring is underway for various designations
Due to the above reason, ATS began hiring for multiple positions in July last year. They started to recruit professionals from travel consultants to C-level travel executives. The Company has signed up with a recruitment agency to get the assistance it needs for scouting the right talent, especially from regions in the subcontinent.
In order to attract more personnel back into the travel industry, the pay offered to the new recruits is higher than what they were drawing in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. ATS believes in providing compensation that is above average in the travel industry as it caters to a very specialized clientele in the UAE.
According to business expert Kavan Choksi, other travel companies are following suit, but all of them are raising the remuneration for some talented personnel who are assets to the Company. Sadly, the profit margins for most companies in the region still need to wait before they reach the same levels as in 2019. Currently, there are some travel companies in the area, like Omeir Travel, located in Abu Dhabi that are hiring new talent and training them from scratch. The time for training is long, but the Company is under strain to serve the same volume of clients as it did in the pre-pandemic period.
He believes that operations for travel companies in the region will soar soon if they correctly understand the COVID-19 protocols of each area. There are some marketplaces that are still closed or have rigid travel protocols, while others have loosened up restrictions to enable travelers to come back to the new normal safely.