Did you know today (29 September) is National Hospitality Day?
It is a day when the nation has the chance to celebrate the hospitality industry, its workers and our favourite local businesses.
The industry has felt the impact of the COVID pandemic and cost of living crisis in recent times, but there are signs the sector is beginning to recover.
Statistics released by Visit Britain show that inbound tourism to the UK, an important factor in the hospitality industry, is very much on the rise.
It is expected that by the end of 2023, around 37.5million tourists will have visited the UK, 92% of the pre COVID figure in 2019 and up on 31.2million visits in 2022.
Accordingly visitor spending has increased from £26.5billion in 2022 to a forecast £30.9billion in 2023 (an increase of 9% on the figure in 2019).
It is estimated there will be a return to pre-COVID visit volumes by the end of 2024.
If hospitality and catering is something that interests you then we offer a number of courses at our Gravesend and Tonbridge campuses.
They are all provided in our modern professional catering facilities, which include industry standard kitchens and service areas and you will be taught by specialists, who are able to pass on first-hand experience of working within the industry.
To hone your skills even more we have two restaurants that are open to the public.
The View Restaurant in Tonbridge and The Gallery in Gravesend are staffed by all levels of our catering academy students be it in the kitchen, with our trainee chefs preparing and cooking the food or the front of house students learning the intricacies of the perfect service all supervised by our experienced and professional catering team.
Professional industry placements are also offered as part of your study programme.
If you are inspired by National Hospitality Day to work in the industry you can start your journey by visiting the Hospitality and Catering subject page of our website to find out more.
Alternatively visit the Contact Us page to get in touch.