Careers in this cluster involve providing people with food, lodging, and related services. All of the food preparation and serving occupations and a number of the personal care and service occupations in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) are assigned to this cluster.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted about 17 million jobs in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) occupations that are assigned to the hospitality and tourism cluster, making this cluster one of the largest in terms of jobs. Median annual wages for these occupations ranged from $18,330 for combined food preparation and serving workers to $66,200 for gaming managers.

Nearly all of the occupations in this cluster typically require a high school diploma or less education, although specific designations vary and include, for example, a bachelor’s degree for recreation workers.

BLS projects most of the job openings in occupations assigned to the hospitality and tourism cluster to be in the restaurants and food/beverage systems pathway. Of those occupations, the one expected to have the largest number of job openings is combined food preparation and serving workers.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tourism generates $5.6 billion in economic impact for the region annually, including indirect and induced impact. Taxes paid by visitors save the average Kansas City household $550 in taxes annually. More than 48,000 jobs in the region are sustained by tourism either directly or indirectly, supporting $1.8 billion in wages. Kansas City hosts 25.2 million visitors each year. Of these, 47% of visitors stay overnight.

Source: VisitKC