A new training model is developed in industry collaboration to respond to the labour shortage and ensure the integration of foreign employees in the Lappish tourism and restaurant industry.
Thursday 16 January 2024
16:00 – 17:30 pm CET
Webinar
We are excited to host the first PANTOUR webinar of 2025
Tourism is at the heart of today’s social, sustainable and technological transformations, bringing both challenges and opportunities for tourism businesses. To thrive in this dynamic landscape, the tourism and hospitality sector requires new and evolving skills to remain competitive and forward-thinking. For this webinar we selected a serie of three European best practices that on a daily base, highlight key areas of skills development necessary for the digital and sustainable transformation and inclusive tourism growth.
Within the framework of the PANTOUR project, we are also excited to present the Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor —a cutting-edge tool designed to map current and future skill needs. This innovative resource empowers the workforce, keeps companies competitive, and supports education and training providers in delivering relevant, future-ready modules.
Gina Oglesby, Back to Work Connect interview
Since the beginning of the pandemic, many studies have pointed out the disproportionate impacts of Covid-19 on the female workforce (OECD a, 2020, European Parliament 2020, UN Women 2020). Arguably the pandemic exacerbated structural inequalities that already existed (UN 2020, Wenham, Smith and Morgan 2020). Women faced differential economic risks, having been overrepresented in hardest-hit sectors of the economy, facing several barriers in business, being more vulnerable to the economic impacts of the crisis, and having to take care of family responsibilities, forcing them to leave their jobs and studies (OECD a, 2021). Furthermore, according to the World Forum Economic Report (2020), since the beginning of the pandemic, displaced workers have been on average more likely to be female, younger and earning a lower wage (p. 17). In the tourism and hospitality industry, the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on women were even more visible as they are more likely to work in this hard-hit sector supplying 60% of the workforce in accommodation, 53% in food and beverage and 47% in air transport around the globe (OECD b, 2021, p 7). Covid-19 impacted jobs and hours of work – particularly for this group (Renaud et al., 2020). Additionally, the loss of jobs in the sector, already highly gendered, the social struggle women have facing as caregivers during the pandemic and the barriers found in applying – for jobs led to more inequalities in the job market.
On the 18th November 2021 the NTG Alliance hosted the online conference ‘Next Tourism Generation: Building a skilled workforce’. This conference was broken into four main modules, upskilling and reskilling in tourism and hospitality, addressing skills needs with innovative collaboration, integrating new skills into industry and education curricula and envisioning a skills partnership in the tourism sector.
Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the tourism sector globally. The past year will – long be remembered for the far-reaching consequences of the pandemic and the detrimental affect it has had on individuals, health, lifestyles, organizations and economies to name but a few.
As businesses start to build back from the disruption caused by Covid-19, they will need to ensure their people have the skills needed to support safe reopening and to emerge stronger from the crisis.
Cardiff Met virtually attended a Museums Association webinar entitled Digital Futures Embracing New Strategies on 29th April 2021. Diana James summarises key insights on how museums in the UK responded to the challenge of the pandemic using digital technology, what they learnt and how the Next Tourism Generation project can help inform new strategies and address skills gaps.
Being enthusiastic in the profession he learned while managing, keeping alive, and planning the overall renovation of the hotel he is directing, all shows the multi-tasking personality of the interviewee. He is smiling and is optimistic, even during the years of Covid-19.
Knowledge of climate change, commitment to resource and environmental protection and appropriate measures to minimize negative impacts are important key skills for the Next Tourism Generation. The transfer of knowledge to the grassroots of the industry must therefore be an important goal.
Over the last 20 years, there have been numerous studies, guides and reports on climate change and on the role of tourism. The topic is not new. Now, however, the discussion is increasingly taking place at – a fundamental level.
In the week of 29th March 2021, local and international students from Cardiff Metropolitan University, Varna University, Bulgaria and City Unity College, Greece, studying for a MSc in Tourism and Hospitality Management, joined a 4-day virtual field study visit to Pembrokeshire in Wales. The Destination Pembrokeshire Partnership (DPP) made up of Pembrokeshire Tourism, Pembrokeshire County Council, PLANED & The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority have worked closely together to launch Pembrokeshire’s new Destination Management Organization ‘Visit Pembrokeshire’ in November 2020. This new Destination Management Organization is the first of its type in Wales bringing together the public, private and third sector to help drive growth and development.