Visitor Economy Task Group
The Visitor economy is a key sector in East Sussex accounting for more than a third of the jobs in some areas. It is wide ranging, with member cross overs with the creative and digital task group. The sector is facing challenges from covid and the cost of living crisis over and above employability and skills challenges associated with the sector (perceptions, seasonality etc).
The Task Group meets quarterly to champion employability and skills and coordinate activities and support the to address the strategic priorities of Skills East Sussex for these sectors. The group sets a strategic plan annually in September, to drive forward partnership activities.
The Task Group comprises includes representatives from local employers and representative organisations such as:
- The Lansdowne Hotel
- Visit 1066 Country Marketing
- Eastbourne Hospitality Association
- Experience Sussex
- The Beacon
- De La Warr Pavilion
- Eastbourne Chamber
There are also representative from education and training and other stakeholders including
- East Sussex College Group
- Bexhill College
- DWP Job Centre
- Visit England
- Sussex Council of Training Providers (SCTP)
- Councillors with Lead responsibility for visitor economy/tourism
Chair of Visitor Economy Task Group, Julie Barker, MIoD, FIH, PGcert
Supporting the Visitor Economy sector within East Sussex, helping shape future skills and employment needs of the region, encouraging all ages and skills to see the scope and potential of a lifelong career within the hospitality industry is an honour and a privilege
2024/25 Strategic Plan activities
| Partnership activities | |
|---|---|
| 1. Raise the profile of the sector | Access the resource and expertise of national sector bodies to support activities/raise the profile of the sector at a national level. |
| Increase awareness of opportunities, pathways, progression routes in the sector | |
| Ongoing strategic relationship with Experience Sussex and employability and skills through their development plan. | |
| Develop and deliver pilot hospitality schools competition – giving young people the opportunity to meet people from the sector, learn about pathways into and spark interest. | |
| Encourage involvement in careers hub activities (eg Industry Champion) and share opportunities through the task group and wider networks for engagement with young people. | |
| Teachers Encounters planned for June 2025, focussed on visitor Economy. Enabling curriculum teacher and careers leads to link with local businesses through facilitated workshop to increase their knowledge and embed this knowledge through the curriculum and careers provision. | |
| 2. Help industry to engage with education/ training provision to inform curriculum/ respond to industry need | Increase the numbers of placements/opportunities for young people to engage with the sector |
| Build in real world opportunities for careers/teaching staff and students (eg Open Doors through the careers hub), as well as job centre advisors | |
| Progress potential for skills bootcamps | |
| 3. Resources provision | Look at developing a resource/roadmap of employability and skills provision locally to create one point of information |
| 4. Widening the net of recruitment/diversity into the sector (linked to activity 1) | Encourage alternative recruitment methods to support diversity into the sector (eg neurodiverse, young job seekers etc). Using Jerwood Foundation framework as a best practice approach alongside peer sector experience to encourage involvement |
| Identify the barriers to employers having young people on placement/work experience | |
| 5. Value of Maths and English in the workplace | Bringing employer voice to young people – how maths and English are practically applied in the sector (relating curriculum to real life) |
| Map good practice both locally and nationally, work to embed this across the county | |
| Addressing barriers of maths and English qualifications to uptake and success in employment and apprenticeships |
Visitor Economy Task Group meetings
Contact Skills East Sussex if you are a sector employer, training or education provider and want details. Other than your time, and occasional travel, there are no costs to joining Skills East Sussex meetings.
The next meeting of the group is on Tuesday 11th February 2025.
Please find below the minutes of recent task group meetings.
If you wish to see minutes of a meeting not listed, please email Skills East Sussex and we will do our best to help.
Task group achievements
- ‘Hospitality Rocks’ project saw the DWP and East Sussex College partner through the task group on a social media campaign and Sector Based Work Academies (SWAPs) to drive up recruitment by inviting job seekers to try out cocktail-making or barista, then enrolling them on to a short course with guaranteed vacancies. This was so successful that it was then rolled out by the DWP/job centres to other parts of the country in 2022/23.
- The Transform service provides support for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with workforce development, specialist advice on skills training and apprenticeships, including access to government-funded training and ESCC apprenticeship levy transfer to fund training. Since November 2020, Transform has supported 37 Visitor Economy businesses.
- Careers Hub has 11 active Industry Champions from the visitor economy and 8 businesses that offer Open Doors workplace visits to groups of students.
- Hospitality Roundtable event was held at the De La Warr Pavilion in jointly hosted by East Sussex and Rother District Council to raise the profile and look at activities to address challenges in the sector.
- For the East Sussex Careers Campaign the task group agreed to promote the following roles: Chef, Hotel and restaurant managers
- Job role career pathway videos and infographics have been created on the Careers East Sussex local industry pages for chef and event manager jobs.
- Supported the establishment of the View Hotel in Eastbourne as a 'Hotel of Excellence'. The View will provide long-term placements for students at the University of Brighton. They also provided up to five 50-day placements for East Sussex College group students as part of their new T-level provision.
- Cross county sector workshop to look at and consider actions which existed cross county for the sector.