Fast forward: Tourism and Hospitality skills that matter – 19 March 2026 Webinar

Skills in tourism and hospitality are changing fast. Digital. Green. Soft skills. Transversal skills and Technical skills. Two years ago, the sector was in a different position. Today? There is even more priority and center attention to the topic of Skills Development.

Join the PANTOUR webinar on 19 March, 10:00 – 11:30 CET and get the 2026 update straight from our Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor. Surveys, focus groups, best practice interviews, desk research: all boiled down into the trends that matter.

We will show you what is happening, why it matters, and how to use Skills Intelligence in your sector or program for actionable insight with our invited guests.

Registration

Registration is open, so register now: here

 

Content

Our fresh PANTOUR Country Skills Profile Reports (update 2026) deliver new insights, ideas and inspiration from across Europe. We talked to HR managers, tourism pros, and sector experts to uncover the latest trends and development that decide skills development, training and business innovation with people at the core.

But there is more: we will discuss how our Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor (SSIM) is your toolkit for the future. Flexible. Modular. Applicable at local, regional, national, or international level. Assess skills gaps. Spot emerging needs. Benchmark across countries. Bridge the gaps before they hit your workforce.

 

What’s in it for you?

🔎 Discover the trends shaping digital, green and social skills in 2026
🌨️ See best practices in sustainable employment and employability, retention successes and turnover killers.
👑 Learn how the SSIM can help your organisation or region make strategic, future-proof choices by learning from pioneers and experts in all shapes and forms.

 

Program line-up

10:00 Welcome and opening

10:05 A deep dive into Skills Intelligence Monitoring – Corné Dijkmans (Researsch Director) at Breda University of Applied Sciences

10:20 Learning from the best: 4 selected best practices from Spain, Bulgaria and Italia – the scope of Europe:

• Carmen Gómez-Álvarez (General Manager) and Alba Escobar (Sales Executive) at Hampton by Hilton Alcobendas, on social skills.
• Nikoleta Hristova (Hospitality Professional and Hotel Manager) from Hotel Grifid Metropol 4* in Golden sands, on digital skills
• Gualtiero Fantoni (Associate Professor) at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa, on digital skills
• Yiannis Batsis (Talent Development Professional), on digital skills
• Giulio Lizio Bruno (Project Manager at the Strada del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano e Sapori della Valdichiana Senese), on green skills

11:00 Open discussion – the floor is (y)ours!

11:30 Closing

 

Speaker line-up

Carmen Gómez-Álvarez

Carmen Gómez-Álvarez is the Director of the Hampton by Hilton Alcobendas Madrid and has 22 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Throughout her career, she has developed her professional path alongside the hotel management company Panoram Hotel Management, contributing to the management and development of hotel projects with a strong people-centered approach.

 

Alba Escobar Ferreras

Alba Escobar Ferreras is the Sales Manager at Hampton by Hilton Alcobendas Madrid, with four years of experience in the hospitality sector. Throughout her career, she has gained experience across different areas of the industry, beginning in hotel front desk operations and later expanding her perspective through her work with the Confederación Española de Hoteles y Alojamientos Turísticos, where she actively participated in the PANTOUR project.

 

Gualtiero Fantoni

Gualtiero Fantoni has been an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa since 2014. He graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1999 and earned a PhD in Robotics, Bioengineering, and Automation in 2005. In 2023, he obtained the National Scientific Qualification as a Full Professor in the field of Economic and Management Engineering. His research lies at the intersection of design engineering and data science, focusing on the transformation of technical textual information (patents, standards, product descriptions) into structured quantitative data. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Text Mining, and, more recently, Large Language Models (LLM), Professor Fantoni studies product innovation, maps emerging technologies, and analyzes the impact of digital transformation on skills and the labor market. He co-founded multidisciplinary research groups such as “NLP 4 Patents” (with the CNR) and “Business Engineering for Data Science (B4DS).

 

Yiannis Batsis

Yiannis Batsis is an HR and Learning & Development leader with over 20 years of experience in Greece and internationally. He has held regional EMEA roles with multinational hospitality groups, including Starwood, Marriott, and Wyndham, leading Talent Management and capability-building initiatives. He partners with leading hospitality organizations on leadership development, culture transformation, and people development, and has delivered extensive training across a wide range of audiences. He also teaches at postgraduate level and regularly speaks at industry events.

 

Giulio Lizio

In his current role, as a Project Manager at the Strada del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano e Sapori della Valdichiana Senese, Giulio Lizio focuses on building initiatives aimed at strengthening sustainable tourism and enhancing the identity and competitiveness of the Valdichiana Senese, in southern Tuscany. His work looks at destination management strategies built around three key pillars: digitalisation, internationalisation and sustainability. Giulio collaborates with local institutions, tourism stakeholders and businesses to promote the territory’s cultural heritage, support the transition toward more sustainable tourism models and strengthen the international positioning of the destination.

 

Corné Dijkmans

Corné Dijkmans is leading the Sector Skills Intelligence Monitoring System and European and Country Skills Profile insights of PANTOUR and speaker on the event. Corné focuses on Skills Development and Skills Intelligence in tourism, leisure and hospitality, in particular in relation to digital skills. He is involved in a wide variety of international projects aimed at enhancing competences and skills of the tourism workforce, and in training of professionals to improve the attractiveness and quality of management education by the use of ICTs, e-learning and online media.

 

Lobke Elbers

Lobke Elbers is leading the Communication and Dissemination of PANTOUR on national and European level and moderator of the event. She is an executive leader operating at the intersection of the digital transition and human capital development in tourism and hospitality. Lobke has extensive experience in EU-level programmes, public-private partnerships and board advisory roles within hospitality, travel and education.

 

 

Join us!

Join our webinar on 19 March 2026, 10:00 – 11:00 CET and get the 2026 update on tourism & hospitality skills. Hear trends, insights, and actionable ideas from multiple sectors, perspectives, and our expert guests.

Registration is open, so register now: here