TOURISM bosses will converge on York for crisis talks about a skills shortage that threatens one of the region's biggest industries.

A meeting at the Yorkshire Tourist Board in Tadcaster Road, York, on September 7 will try to fathom out why:

13 per cent of tourism businesses in Yorkshire and Humberside have hard-to-fill vacancies for essential posts, where England's national average is 11 per cent and seven per cent for the North East.

42 per cent of tourism vacancies in the region are due to people lacking in relevant skills, where the national average stands at 33 per cent

36 per cent of the current workforce of 173,750 in the region lack relevant skills to meet business objectives (only 29 per cent in England)

The bid to ensure that the Yorkshire region's £4 billion per year revenue is sustained or improved in the years ahead has come from People 1st, which has a government licence to represent employers across the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector.

The extent of the tourism skills problem in Yorkshire compared with the rest of England was highlighted Martin-Christian Kemp, head of research for People 1st.

He said: "The meeting in York will look at where and what are the problems and what we need to do to change the system.

"This is an opportunity for our sector to get the right training in place to raise productivity. We have a unique issue in Yorkshire, particularly bearing in mind the importance of tourism to the region."

Susie Bridley, special projects manager for People 1st, has sent out invitations to key employers in Yorkshire.

She said: "Many sector employers find that applicants don't have the right skills and that many of the training courses are failing both the candidate and the sector.

"We have a unique opportunity to tackle this problem head on. The hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector has been asked to lay out what skills we need now and in the future.

"On the back of that we can work with government and key stakeholders to get a system with the right courses and qualifications which can deliver what we need."

David Andrews, chief executive of Yorkshire Tourist Board, said: "You can build the best hotel facilities in the world, but you need skilled people to make it work.

"We are aware we need to increase the planning of resources in the industry.

"It means working with colleges, universities and the education system to get the ingredients right."

Updated: 10:56 Thursday, August 04, 2005