Threat to tourism

CONCERNS were raised in The Oban Times last week about a crisis building over recruitment in the town’s hospitality sector.

Allan McKie, an experienced senior figure in the industry locally, voiced his worries about a problem which looks likely to worsen as Brexit gets closer. That is because many of the people working in the sector are EU nationals from different countries. With Brexit looming, their status here will become less certain and many will leave the UK.

There is apparently already a shortage of staff in Oban for many hotels, pubs, restaurants and other outlets.

And with the new 80-bedroom Premier Inn hoping to open next year, it seems the crisis could reach perfect storm proportions.

For an area which relies so heavily on tourism for its economic well-being, this is a very serious problem. Where our local hospitality sector businesses are to find the number of workers required to staff their operations remains in doubt.

Allan McKie was quite right to flag up the problem at this time. I sincerely hope someone can come up with a solution to make sure the industry is adequately staffed.