What do we have to do with VR in tourism organizations? Is there a lot of budget needed? How can organizations benefit from digital media and VR, and what kind of knowledge is necessary to make experiences in VR? The Next Tourism Generation blog team sat down with Professor Marnix van Gisbergen from Breda University of Applied Sciences to ask these important questions.
After the finalization of the NTG desk research and survey, semi-structured interviews were conducted in all partner countries to acquire additional in-depth understanding and insights into the future of digital, green and social skills from the perspective of people working in the tourism industry. Altogether, 264 interviews were conducted in the NTG key partner countries with senior managers, human resource managers, company owners, entrepreneurs, heads of department and other relevant respondents in all five tourism sectors under investigation. This blog focuses on the most important outcomes of the destination management organizations.
Worldwide, there are over 313 million tourism jobs (WTTC, 2017), focusing on hospitality, food and beverages, tour operators and destination management organizations. The Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG) aims to improve the relationship between Tourism Education and the Tourism Industry. Next to that, the career image of Tourism also needs to be improved by the Alliance. Therefore, several tourism career opportunities will be highlighted in this blog, derived from Jobs in Tourism, an initiative by the European Commission focusing on enhancing the image of careers in the tourism sector, part of the Blueprint for sectoral cooperation on skills in tourism. READ MORE
The Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG) is helping to develop a future proof tourism industry via skills development within Europe. In addition to digital innovations and green practices enhanced and supported for tourism businesses by the European Commission, an EU Disability Strategy has been established to create a barrier-free Europe. In order to stimulate this strategy in Europe to ensure tourism is more accessible for all types of tourists, the Access City Award 2019 contest has been organized.READ MORE
The first edition of the Travel Congress in the Netherlands focused on three main pillars: digital skills, social skills and green skills: pillars that NTG also focuses on within the Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG). Various keynotes were visited in order to get interesting insights into the current Skills situation in the tourism industry.READ MORE
The vision of Visit Finland is that Finland will become a smart, pioneering destination, that provides the best customer journey from daydreaming to travel. This vision has resulted in Visit Finland’s mission to build a nation-wide digital ecosystem to support sustainable growth in travel. Kaisa Kosonen, Digital Development Manager at Visit Finland, explains what Finland does as a country and as a tourism industry to get the country digitalized. In order to reach a final goal, based on the mission and vision, various Next Tourism Generation (NTG)-related skills are necessary nowadays for DMO’s. Several of them will be highlighted in this blog, such as data analysis and augmented reality.
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A lot is happening in Helsinki, a lot of innovation according to Digital Tourism Think Tank. Laura Aalto from Helsinki Marketing agrees and explains that when it comes to tourism development in Helsinki, the focus is on ‘the good life’ for the visitors and inhabitants of Helsinki. The capital city of Finland was proud to tell that it won the Smart City Price, as the first city. For Helsinki, Laura explained, Smart is more than a buzz word. The Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG) aims to concentrate upon those digital, social and sustainable innovations as well, in order to prepare tourism businesses for a futureproof industry. This blog about Helsinki shows how a city can become ‘smart’ in the tourism industry. READ MORE
Everything the DMO Banff & Lake Louise Tourism does start with the brand. “We strive to get an emotional connection with our visitors,” explains Diane Bures. The reason is that destinations can look similar to each other. The DMO, where 30 people work, talked with tourists in order to be able to understand how tourists feel as soon as they visit the area. Many quotes were related to how visitors experienced nature. What became evident, was the emotional connection with Banff. Movie brand story “Banff & Lake Louise Alive” A visit to Banff national park means a rare experience, an indelible awe, that will last forever. This blog emphasizes on one of the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) sub-sectors, destination management organizations, and what skills are necessary in order to protect the national park from impacts of tourism.READ MORE
According to the World Economic Forum we are today witnessing the beginnings of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Developments in previously separate areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, and blockchain technology are now joining forces and amplifying one another. The impact of this will be visible in the coming years and affect European societies, industries, jobs, and amounts of free time. These changes will not only pose threats to the tourism industry but also open up new opportunities for which the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) needs to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs, educators, and workers in tourism.
On behalf of JlagEurope Silvia Barbone, project leader of NTG, had an interview with Chris Castro about sustainability and smart tourism. His insights are of importance for the Blueprint strategy for Sectoral Skills Development to respond to the fast-changing and increasing skills gaps in digital, green and social skills that Next Tourism Generation (NTG) is working on currently.READ MORE