Hilton Worldwide will create 200,000 jobs by 2018

US-based hotelier Hilton Worldwide expects to recruit around 200,000 new employers by 2018 in order to staff the upcoming pipeline of 1100 hotels, which continues to grow year on year.

The company’s president and CEO Chris Nassetta told Hotelier Middle East: “In the pipeline, there’s probably 200,000 people in new jobs…in probably another three to five years, it’s staggering”.

To increase available talent over the next few years, Nassetta said Hilton Worldwide was focused on tackling the issue of youth unemployment and raising awareness of travel and tourism as a reputable career path.

As well as launching ‘Open Doors’, a Hilton Worldwide programme which pledges to help one million young people “reach their full potential” by 2019, Nassetta is working on several projects with the World Travel and Tourism Council, World Economic Forum and the International Youth Foundation to target and reduce youth unemployment.

“The majority of jobs we’re going to create are going to be in the youth age cohort, entry level in the travel and tourism business,” said Nassetta. “Today there’s 75 million youth unemployed around the world…when you look at the whole supply chain, there’s 75 million jobs in travel and tourism that are going to be created over the next 10 years. So there’s a real opportunity and a need..., so personally, and as an organisation, we spend a huge amount of time matching that up.”

He said the main challenge is raising awareness generally of the opportunities for careers — and career progression — in travel and tourism, which is why Nassetta launched ‘Open Doors’ at the start of the year.
Through this, Hilton Worldwide seeks to “connect” people with the industry, “prepare” them for work, and ultimately “employ” them. Nassetta said that while awareness of the size of the industry — the world’s single largest employer comprising one in 11 jobs —is getting better, connection to it is not improving.

“[We need to make sure] that people know that these are good jobs; in many cases if you work hard and you get in the right company and the right culture, with training and development opportunities, there’s a lot of upward mobility. I do not think in the world today, not just here, everywhere, I do not think there’s an appreciation for that,” Nassetta said.

Currently, Hilton Worldwide employs 300,000 people globally.

Nassetta was speaking to Hotelier Middle East in an exclusive interview featured in the May issue.