Tourists flock to the fastest-growing U.S. cities, driving local demand for travel and hospitality skills

A skills gap is a mismatch between the skills employers need (demand) and the skills workers have (supply). There is an abundance of skills when supply exceeds demand. There is a scarcity of skills when demand exceeds supply. A city with a scarcity of skills needs more workers with certain skills, while a city with an abundance of skills has too many workers with certain skills.

A skills gap is good news for jobseekers when it’s caused by a scarcity of skills, and bad news when it’s caused by an abundance of skills. The cities with the largest skills gaps are San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Austin. Each of these cities has a scarcity-driven skills gap, which means there is a high unfilled demand for workers with certain skillsets such as healthcare management, or education and teaching. To see which other skills are in scarcity, check out the San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Austin City Reports.

In the fast-growing cities of Austin, Denver, Jacksonville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg, we’re seeing rapid growth in demand for people skilled in travel and hospitality skills. These skills include hotel management, reservations and hotel booking, tour operating, business travel, and destination marketing.

Demand for travel and hospitality skills is also growing in the booming cities of Portland, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. Across all these cities, the roles being hired for are primarily operations, sales, and customer-facing jobs.

As cities grow and prosper economically, they start to attract not only new residents, but also new visitors. In other words: successful cities can quickly become new travel destinations. If you’re interested in working in the travel and hospitality industry, consider checking out jobs in some of the up-and-coming travel destinations mentioned above.