Tourism jobs maintained despite setbacks

Job levels were maintained in the tourism sector in the last year, despite a spate of setbacks for the industry, according to a survey by CERT, the tourism training agency.

120 hospitality establishments participated in the survey. 72% of hoteliers said they had maintained or even increased staff levels, despite the foot and mouth crisis in Britain, the attacks in the US on September 11 and the recent bad weather.

Most respondents said this success can be attributed to changes in business strategy.

CERT chairman Eamon McKeon said: "Given all the bad news that we've heard about tourism and tourism performance in the current year in particular, it's somewhat heartening at least to say that the survey shows that the same number of jobs will be maintained in the industry."