Careers Wales and Llangoed Hall have teamed up to encourage pupils at Builth Wells High School to pursue a career in the hospitality sector and to highlight a shortage of skilled chefs in Wales.

Careers adviser, Eleri Jenkins, and head chef at Llangoed Hall, Nick Brodie, visited the school to provide pupils with an insight into working in a professional kitchen and advice on jobs.

The visit follows the launch of Careers Wales’ Spotlight on Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, a new online resource which shows that Wales has a shortage of skilled chefs, with 3,500 new chefs needed in Wales by 2022.

The Spotlight, which includes a round-up of key labour market statistics for the sector, states that 47% of chef vacancies are hard to fill and nearly 40,000 people will be needed in the tourism sector in Wales over the next five years.

The Spotlight also notes that outdoor activity tourism in Wales is worth £481m and accounts for 8,000 jobs in the country.

Speaking on the statistics, Richard Spear, chief executive at Careers Wales, said: “We hope that direct contact with skilled chefs will encourage young people to consider a career in hospitality and make them aware of the variety of roles available within the industry in Wales.

“The information in the Spotlight shows that tourism, hospitality and leisure is a growing sector in Wales, offering a range of job opportunities such as chefs, publicans, fitness instructors, and hotel managers.

“2016 is the Year of Adventure for Wales, which is an ideal opportunity to put Wales on the map as an international centre for tourism and get more young people interested in these engaging and varied sectors.”

Joshua Shepherd, 16, who is in Year 12 at Builth Wells High School and studying a BTEC in hospitality said: “Watching Nick show us how food is prepared in posh restaurants was a really good experience and I learnt a lot from him and Careers Wales about the different job options and how to start a career in hospitality. I think I’d either like to be a chef or an event manager and meeting Nick and Careers Wales has really helped me think about the direction I would like to go in my future career.”

Nick Brodie, head chef at Llangoed Hall, said: “Teaming up with Careers Wales to show students at Builth Wells High School that jobs in hospitality are credible professions was a really worthwhile exercise. Many restaurants are crying out for skilled chefs, so even if we have helped just one pupil make a decision about their future it will go some way towards addressing the chef shortage.”