Pact for Next Tourism Generation Skills on the ITB

In a session at ITB Berlin, Corné Dijkmans and Lobke Elbers presented new insights from the research of the European project “Pact for Next Tourism Generation Skills” (PANTOUR) for the most important European countries. A summary of their presentation.

Urgency

Investing in new skills for tourism professionals is desperately needed due to the rapidly changing tourism landscape. We are in the middle of a green and digital transition in a dynamic, uncertain, and complex time. At the same time, consumers find sustainability, safety, and health increasingly important in relation to travel and tourism. To make everything even more difficult, we have a shortage of employees in the tourism sector who do not always have the right skills.

According to Dijkmans, the acute staff shortage can be improved by improving the reputation of the sector and the companies. Companies must also focus on sustainable employability so that employees can work productively, healthily, and with pleasure throughout their entire careers. 'Lifelong learning' is essential for both employees and employers.

Research design

The European PANTOUR project (Pact for Next Tourism Generation Skills) has mapped out the gap between current and future desired skills. To this end, 873 online questionnaires were administered, 100 interviews were held, and 50 best practices were analysed. The researchers focused on digital, sustainable, and social/cultural skills.

Skill Gaps

The biggest gap in digital skills is around the use of AI, robotization, and AR/VR. This does not mean that tourism professionals must become specialists in all these areas, but they do need to better understand the technology and the possibilities. Because our sector is characterised by 'high tech with a human touch', 'our' employees will always have to facilitate the translation between technology and use by visitors/guests.

The sustainable skills mainly involve knowledge gaps in managing CO2 emissions and greening the supply chain. Knowledge and understanding of the environmental impact of company actions must become self-evident for employees. In addition, employees must acquire much more knowledge about green product development and new business models.

With socio-cultural skills, the knowledge gap between current and desired skills is much smaller. The researchers recommend more attention to (inter)personal skills, creative and solution-oriented thinking, teamwork, and an attitude aimed at inclusivity, equality, and ethical behavior.

Your finger on the pulse

To continuously monitor the skills gap, the researchers are working on a method and toolbox to set up a 'Skills Intelligence Monitoring System' that can be used by training courses, trade associations, and companies in tourism, leisure, and hospitality. The PANTOUR project collaborates with the European initiative ''Pact for Skills in Tourism'' to establish national and regional skills partnerships. In various EU countries (including the Netherlands), we are working with stakeholders from the sector on an agenda for research and innovation in the field of human capital, in which skills development plays a central role. One of the goals is to offer appropriate education and training for upskilling and reskilling staff for existing and new job profiles in tourism subsectors.

More information about this project can be found at www.nexttourismgeneration.eu/pantour.