As global tourism continues to evolve, one of the key issues currently affecting it is training a new generation of industry professionals.
It isn’t just a matter of drawing or encouraging young people to consider tourism as a university / collegiate course, but more of the quality of the programmes used to train them that is a cause for concern.
While institutions like the Philippines’ University of Baguio, Singapore’s Shatec Institutes, and the EHL Hospitality Business and Hotel Management School in Switzerland have stood at the forefront of tourism training, global institutions are scrambling to offer programmes that will result in highly-competent workers for commercial aviation, tourism, and hospitality.
In which case, what emergent trends are these schools looking at in terms of tourism education?
Several points to ponder
Industry experts have pinpointed five key areas of development when it comes to tourism training for students at the university or vocational training levels.
These are:
- Environmental stewardship Experts say that tourism education must move beyond theory and embed responsible tourism practices, climate action, and sustainability into the core curriculum. As such, programmes need to revolve around ecological conservation, cultural preservation, and the circular economy to ensure responsible destination management;
- Greater investment in vocational education Not everyone is keen on getting a university degree, but that doesn’t mean that institutions should skimp on their associate or vocational programmes. On the contrary, as these offer a faster route to a career, relevant programmes need to be boosted with hands-on training on site with relevant partners to fine tune students’ skills. As such, greater investment needs to go towards skills building, industry partnerships, and training labs;
- Entrepreneurship matters Training people to be employees all their lives for a sustainable livelihood is one thing, but training them to set up shop for themselves is more ideal. Entrepreneurship training matters, especially for marginalised communities and women, as it empowers individuals and drives them to strive towards greater goals, benefiting themselves as well as the communities they are part of. Furthermore, also making space for small- and medium-scale enterprises that are adjacent to tourism and hospitality changes the game, transforming communities into stakeholders in national tourism initiatives.
Most tourism and hospitality students gun for global certification, but not all of them are actually ready for the responsibilities such certification entails.
By changing the game when it comes to tourism education, we may end up with a new generation that is both passionate about their work and passionate about sharing the experience of their locations with the rest of the world.
