Gaps in tourism education and workforce needs: attracting and educating the right people

Abstract

The intense development of the tourism industry requires a skilled and qualified workforce. It is important to attract the right candidates to the tourism education, and subsequently provide relevant education to prepare students for the industry after graduation. While work placements may be useful and important to some extent, they are not the ideal solution. Hence, alternative approaches such as simulations and flipped classrooms may be applied. To provide realistic expectations, a closer collaboration between industry operators and education providers is needed. Education providers should assume a more proactive role by inviting tourism operators and integrated them in the tourism education programs as guest lecturers.