Skillsnet TRENDS AND SKILL NEEDS IN THE TOURISM SECTOR INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP, 29-30 April 2004 Working group I Changing occupations and skill requirements

skillsnetTRENDS AND SKILL NEEDS IN THE TOURISM SECTOR

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP, 29-30 April 2004

Working group I

Changing occupations and skill requirements in the tourism sector

ReportSusanne Liane Schmidt, Bernd Dworschak, Fraunhofer IAO, Germany



Changing Occupations and Occupational Identities in Hospitality and Tourism - The Case of Canada Marion Joppe, Director, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, University of Guelph, Canada



Statement in the beginning:

There are many similarities with the data presented in the keynotes (Mr Jonckers, Mrs Freikamp).

Summary of the presentation:

10.7% of total employment in Canada depend directly and indirectly on tourism industry



Causes of Skill Shortage:

• Aging of the population

• Retention – heavy reliance on youth

• Recruitment – Image; salary and wage significantly below other professions; Skills easily transferable and much prized by other industries (Only 50% of tourism graduates in the labour market are working in tourism industry (B.C.))

• Internal skill gaps



Example: Internal skill gaps

• IT skills• Literacy and numeracy• Communication/presentation skills• Customer handling/service• Problem solving and critical analysis• Leadership skills• Financial management and cost control• Project management



National Occupational Standards

Documents describing skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for competent performance in specific tourism occupation

Job profiles are compiled and documented by tourism industry itselfThere are more than 50 national occupational standards developed to date www.HTNCareerNet.com website provides over 1000 pages of job profiles



Training gaps

• Communication: reading + writing + oral• Customer service• Numeracy• Problem solving• Decision-making• Risk management• .... (similar to previous presentations)

Hire for attitude, train for everything



Points of discussion

• There is a (worldwide) demand for chefs and cooks (cooks are also hired from the food industry)

• In Canada there is an industry-driven process for the validity of the national occupational standards

• Biggest problem: forecasting/ knowing in advance which skills will be needed in future



Factors shaping occupational identities in the tourism sector: research from Spain, Czech Republic and GreeceOlga Strietska, CedefopAlena Zukersteinova, National Observatory of Employment and Training, NTF, Czech Republic




Research project FAME, Research in Tourism sector in Spain, Czech Republic and Greece, Interviews with employers and employees

Main challenges for the sector:• Wages in hotel and catering are far below national average• High labour fluctuation• Seasonality• ....



Education, training and human resource development in the sector

• Formal vocational preparation is less important than practical training

• Skill requirements: - personal and social skills - technological innovation, computer skills and information technologies - multiskilling (combination of skills from different qualifications) - The role of employers in training provision is indispensable, but...



2 factors are most important: - QUALIFICATION - FLEXIBILITY

• Flexibility as a personal quality which employees are prepared to provide or not no training possible

• The lower the qualification – the higher mobility is expected



Where employers and employees discourses meet and where they disagree

• Employers search for professionals but they find mostly conciliated workers, active seekers and unconsolidated workers• Yet, the demands they set upon all of them are the same to those expected from professionals• Yet, the payback is not adequate to those meant for professionals• Social dialogue is important for improvement of the skills situation in the sector, yet absent

ACTIONS NEEDED!




• Social dialogue is important, but the sector is practically non-unionized what does the industry / do employers?

• Remark: Employees change job/sector if they are not satisfied, they do not try to change anything

• Difficult structure in tourism: 95% of companies are SMEs or micro enterprises



The Role of ICT in Tourism and Related Changes in Skills – Tourism Value Net Revenue ManagementRiina Glinskihh, Hotelzon International Ltd /Tartu University, Estonia




Changes in Distribution and SalesRevenue Management

1. Changes in Distribution and Sales:• Rapid development of information and communication

technology has changed the way information is exchanged among tourism industry players.

• The Internet is revolutionising the distribution of tourism information and sales.



Important development:

• Distribution channels traditionally used by tour operators or travel agencies are now available for customers via internet

• Merged offers of traditionally seperated services, traditional tourism value chains have evolved into the Tourism Value Net

Skills Needed for Successful Navigation in Tourism Value Net

• How to evaluate electronic distribution channels• How to choose the right electronic distribution channels



Networking between Industry and Educational Institutions

Networking between tourism education institutions, information technology education institutions and tourism industry players (hotels, tour operators, travel agencies, new intermediaries and technology providers) is essential to develop a skill base for successful navigation in the Value Net.



Revenue Management

Revenue management concepts and tools have been designed to improve and support bottom-line oriented decision-making.

Skills Needed for Effective Revenue Management:• Marketing• Statistics• Finance Management• Customer Service• E-Business• Networking• Human Resource Management




• in e-business it is very important to know about legislation and insurance

• for students it would be helpful to have trainings in simulated business cases

• in special cases hybrid qualifications can be useful: tourism and e-business / ICT



Conclusion and outlookQualifications from the tourism sector are much appreciated by other sectors (customer orientation…) – qualifications from other sectors (ICT) are useful for tourism sector: transversal qualifications and hybrid profiles might be useful

New occupational profiles?

Main problems in tourism sector (very similar in all the discussed and compared countries): low wages, high flexibility, little money for training, high fluctuation, skill shortages

How can this circle be interrupted? (more specialists, more generalists?)

Many trained and well educated employees leave the sector

Waste of resources and individual skills?