Practical solutions to meet hospitality skills gap

Speakers at a conference in March will outline practical ways in which London-based tourism and leisure businesses can plug into government-funded initiatives and agencies to help them meet their recruitment and retention needs.

Thousands more chefs, waiters, receptionists and customer-facing staff are needed if the 2012 Olympics are to create a successful legacy for London and the UK. High staff turnover in hospitality businesses means that by 2012 the sector could lose more than 4 million people.

Carrie England, Associate Director of the London Employment Agency, said: 'This is an unprecedented opportunity for London's hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism employers to meet face-to-face with organisations that can help them to find, recruit and retain local staff. There is money available to train Londoners to become the employees these businesses need, now and into the future.'

The free seminar will be held on Tuesday, 4 March 2008 from 4.30 to 7.00pm at The Gymnasium at St Pancras, London.

For more information on the conference go to the list of events at www.tourismsociety.org. Contact Flo Powell at flo@tourismsociety.org or call 020 8661 4636 to book.