Baltimore Hospitality Community Seeks Local Talent During Hiring Boom

BALTIMORE, MD – Visit Baltimore, the official destination sales and marketing organization for the city of Baltimore, recently announced the launch of its hospitality workforce campaign to encourage people to consider the many immediate openings at Baltimore’s hotels, museums, attractions and restaurants within the hospitality industry. The campaign aims to highlight the variety of career opportunities that exist within the industry and encourage individuals to pursue a long-term career in hospitality.  

While staffing shortages remain a challenge across the country, Visit Baltimore and its partners in the local hospitality community are stepping forward to address the need. According to the US Travel Association’s recent “State of the American Workforce” report, jobs in leisure and hospitality account for 11% of pre-pandemic employment in the U.S. while representing 34% of all jobs lost and not yet recovered through Nov. 2021.  

“Right now, one of our key economic priorities is addressing COVID’s negative impact on our local community and setting the stage for sustainable growth that directly benefits Baltimore City job seekers and businesses,” says Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. “This campaign will connect our community to career opportunities in their own backyard and help businesses ensure they can deliver a positive customer experience to every visitor. An experience that we hope they’ll share with their friends and families back home, encouraging others to experience all that Baltimore has to offer.” 

The $250k multi-phased campaign kicked off the week of Jan. 3 with paid advertising on digital billboards, search engine marketing and a social media campaign. The second phase of the initiative will launch on Jan. 24 with additional layers of advertising on local radio stations and video and radio streaming platforms featuring stories from local hospitality professionals about the countless career paths and opportunities within the industry.  

In addition to the paid advertising campaign, Visit Baltimore recently launched a “Hospitality Jobs” webpage to support the hospitality industry partners in their staffing needs. The content is designed to welcome back past employees while encouraging new-to-the industry job seekers by highlighting the benefits of working within the tourism industry and providing direct links to job postings. 

“Businesses in hospitality and tourism have arguably been hardest hit by the pandemic with job losses of nearly one-third of all tourism jobs since March 2020,” says Al Hutchinson, President & CEO of Visit Baltimore. “The leisure and hospitality industry has averaged 108,000 new jobs per month over the past three months, making right now the best time for employees to return to jobs in the travel industry. People are more eager than ever to travel, and we want to make sure we greet them with enthusiastic ambassadors who are passionate about a long-term career in hospitality especially as we welcome large events like the upcoming 2022 CIAA Basketball Tournament.”  

While travel to Baltimore declined by 22% in 2021, compared to a steady increase the five years prior, data from destination market research firm Longwoods International shows that 70% of Americans now feel safe traveling outside their community. To keep up with this recent demand and properly greet visitors when they are ready to travel, many hospitality partners have implemented digital check-ins, opt-in housekeeping services and grab-and-go dining options.  

The quick-turn marketing campaign is funded by the Visit Baltimore Marketing Budget and Baltimore Tourism Improvement District (BTID).  

To learn more about career opportunities within Baltimore’s tourism and hospitality industry, please visit https://baltimore.org/hospitality-jobs-in-baltimore/.  

About Visit Baltimore   

Visit Baltimore is the official sales and marketing arm for the City of Baltimore. The 501(c)(6) organization generates economic benefits for stakeholders through the attraction of convention, group and leisure visitors. In 2019, spending by travelers totaled $6 billion in direct spending throughout the city, supporting 86,827 total jobs and generating $750 million in state and city tax revenues. For more information, please visit Baltimore.org.   

About the Baltimore Tourism Improvement District: 

The Baltimore Tourism Improvement District (BTID) is a fund established in 2019 as a public-private partnership with Baltimore’s hotel community for the purpose of generating supplemental and dedicated sales and marketing funds for use in driving incremental overnight visitation. The BTID assessment is a fee that appears on visitors’ hotel folios during their time of stay. The BTID is managed by Visit Baltimore and overseen by the District Management Committee (DMC) of hoteliers, appointed by the Baltimore Convention and Tourism Board of Directors.