Top Takeaways from “Who picks up the hospitable city?”

From boutique bars to international hotel chains, towns and cities worldwide champion hospitality and tourism. But are we truly supporting the sector? Despite UK hospitality employing 3.5m and contributing £140bn to the economy, it faces staggering rising costs and National Insurance hikes for starters.

Top Takeaways

How can we help hospitality survive one of the most difficult periods in recent memory?  Cities love big events. People love big events. But are they good for a city? Who picks up the tab?

This was an insightful and eye-opening chat with a panel chock-full of place-making and hospitality knowledge.

“Leeds is doing very well as a city. But if you look at the sectors, hospitality is struggling. What businesses want is more certainty. But what we’re seeing is an industry that’s recreating itself in a creative way. It needs more support though.” – Andrew Cooper

“I’ve spent more than 34 years in hospitality. The cost of living crisis is affecting everything. Businesses are between a rock and a hard place. The problems are not something that one business, or one group of businesses, can solve by themselves.” Fred Sirieix

“It’s clear that towns and cities are struggling. But tourism is still being prioritised by the general public. That’s a positive thing to hold on to.” – Joanna Reeve

“We need to do more in schools and colleges to bring young people into hospitality on apprenticeships. I still think it’s a fabulous industry to build a career in.” – Zoe Hands

Further Reading

1. The Hospitality Machine: A Global History of the Hotel Industry by Michael P. Cullinane & Peter W. Williams
   Offers a historical perspective on how hospitality systems evolved in relation to cities, trade, and politics.

2. Overtourism: Lessons for a Better Future
   Explores how cities around the world are grappling with the pressures of too many visitors, and how policy responses are designed.

3. “The $100 Hotel: How the Sharing Economy Reshapes Commercial Hospitality” (journal article / white paper)
   An analysis of how platforms like Airbnb shift economic burdens and regulatory challenges onto cities.

Related Podcasts / Episodes

• “99% Invisible” – The True Cost of the Airbnb Boom Investigates how short-term rentals affect housing, neighbourhoods, municipal budgets.

• “CityLab’s The Uncertain City” – Tourism and City Identity A conversation about how tourism shapes city identity and who gets to decide.

• “The Rest Is Politics” (UK politics podcast) — episodes on levelling up & regional inequality
  Some episodes deal indirectly with how investment in cities is allocated, who pays, and urban policy debates.

Documentaries / Films

1. City of Dreams: Mumbai (documentary series)
   While not exactly about hospitality, it examines how urban infrastructure, migration, and public services underpin the city’s capacity to host and sustain people.

2. Overtourism: The Next Tourist Crisis
   A documentary (or series of short films) about how popular destinations handle visitor pressure and the backlash from locals.

3. The Human Scale (2008)
   Explores urban planning from the perspective of livability, walking, public life — indirectly relevant to what makes hospitality sustainable at a city scale.