On October 9, the Next Tourism Generation Alliance partner, Cardiff Met, attended a Visit Wales Roadshow to learn of the new tourism strategy 2020-2025. The roadshow for the South-East region of Wales was held at Miskin Manor which has Green Key accreditation. READ MORE
What are the real needs of the tourism industry in Italy, in terms of digital skills as well as green and social skills to promote sustainability? What are the key initiatives and investments that support skills innovation? Which European funds are available for this industry? The first tourism skills forum took stock of the situation and was launched by NTG Alliance key partners Federturismo Confindustria and UnionCamere during a meeting held on 6 June at Unioncamere, the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture.READ MORE
Providing outstanding customer service is a sure way of building brand loyalty and repeat custom. Seven out of 10 people will spend more money to do business with a company that provides great customer service and its importance is set to increase. The forecast for 2030 suggests a more personalised service with human interaction will be the key to repeat business, also shown in the Next Tourism Generation research outcomes. Moreover, with customer acquisition costing up to 25 times more than retention, businesses must embrace this strengthening direction and focus more on their employees and their interaction with the customer.
Breda University of Applied Sciences, one of the key partners in the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Alliance, organized a World Travel Café Session on digital, green and social skills with Dutch tour operators and travel agencies during a Travel Challenge Conference for students in Turkey. The theme discussed during this meeting between educational institutions and tourism businesses is the focus of the NTG project: the digital, green and social skills needed in the future for sustainable tourism development. In other words, what will the future of digital, green and social skills look like within various organizational structures and at different job levels? This blog highlights the key insights from the discussion focusing on digital skills.READ MORE
One of the most important changes happening in the food and beverage industry has to do with the new habits and interests of customers. This change is that the demand for food delivered at home is growing tremendously. Due to new developments in digital technologies, restaurants are able to sell their dishes online that are delivered to home addresses. Nowadays, people just have to walk around Madrid (or other capital cities) at lunchtime or dinner to observe that a significant percentage of the vehicles that circulate are motorcycles and cars of food delivery companies. Delivery drivers are an innovative type of waiter of the new generation. The Next Tourism Generation Alliance also focuses on how to optimize the implementation of digital tools in the hospitality sector. This blog, written by NTG key partner Alicante University focuses on the developments of digital tools in the hospitality industry in Spain, based on the NTG Interviews.
According to Next Tourism Generation Alliance country field research conducted in Hungary by key partners VIMOS and University of Sopron curiosity, tolerance and trustworthiness are the most important social skills in tourism in Hungary nowadays.
Another highly sought-after attitude is to be aware that “one makes a living from their guests” and treats them accordingly. Since employees in the tourism industry have to get along with guests and co-workers, interpersonal skills are of high value.
Cardiff Met is the Wales partner in the Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Alliance that aims to help address digital and sustainability skills gaps in tourism and related sectors. Over the last ten years in different parts of Wales, various Tourism Ambassador training programmes have developed to help deliver destination management objectives. Ambassador programmes recruit and train people to be experts on their distinctive area and provide a unique and authentic experience for tourists imparting a “sense of place”. Training programmes increase customer care and digital skills and promote conservation of the natural environment and cultural heritage. Benefits to the destination from such programmes potentially include active networking, improved local product knowledge and communication, enhanced visitor experience and higher visitor numbers, spend and length of stay by presenting perspectives of Ambassadors and other organisations that attended. The workshop was a collaboration between the NTG project at Cardiff Met and Snowdonia National Park to develop an Ambassador training programme for Snowdon Mountain (Yr Wyddfa), the highest and most visited peak in Wales. READ MORE
Federturismo Confindustria and McKinsey are signing a partnership agreement to create a link between the Next Tourism Generation Alliance Project and “Generation”, a global McKinsey’s project for skills development and sustainable careers.
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 accommodation providers.
The speed of technological and organizational changes makes it necessary to reflect on the tools we must have at our disposal for companies to maintain their levels of competitiveness. These tools must materialise not only in the form of technology but also in the form of competences transferred to professionals in the sector.
Just as NTG will draw a map of skills and training possibilities for each position in the tourism sector, the ITH Innovation Summit discussed what skills professionals should have and, above all, how entrepreneurs must offer them.READ MORE