Star Performer
The travel industry is a
job-creating dynamo
By MARSHALL KRANTZ
In a still-dim economy the travel industry shines, with event planning its brightest star, according to economic forecasters, even though that light may appear faint to some meeting planners and all but extinguished to many long-time industry veterans.
Since the economic recovery began in March 2010, the domestic travel industry created jobs 14 percent faster than the overall economy, recovering 61 percent of industry jobs lost during the Great Recession as compared with 54 percent for the entire country, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
U.S. Travel expects the travel industry to add nearly 100,000 more jobs this year—about 20 percent more than last year—bringing the total number of industry jobs in 2013 to more than 7.6 million.
David Huether, senior vice president of research and economics for U.S. Travel, sees the meetings and conventions business propping up the expected slowing growth this year in overall business travel to below 1 percent.
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Back to School
While the tumult in the meetings industry over the past few years has shaken out many veteran event planners, young people apparently see a decidedly positive outlook for the profession and for themselves in it.
Las Vegas-based The International School of Hospitality (TISOH), which offers a certificate program in event planning, has enjoyed an annual growth rate in meeting course enrollment of nearly 30 percent over the last few years, nearly double the rate of the school’s four other hospitality programs, according to executive director Timothy M. Lam.
About one-third of the 70 people attending TISOH for the first term of 2013 are enrolled in the convention management and event planning program, according to Lam.
Lam attributes the increased interest in meeting planning partly to the profession’s positive career outlook but also partly to Las Vegas’s stature as the country’s top destination for conventions and trade shows.
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