Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor
The Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor (SSIM) contains a toolkit with various research and assessment methodologies, that can be used in a flexible way or added to existing methodologies to assess skills (gaps) and future needs. As a preparation to successfully implement the SSIM, the following important conditions need to be met:
- Composition and existence of National/Regional Skills Partnerships (NRSPs): a body that initiates, arranges, and manages the structural implementation of the SSIM in each country or region. NRSPs should ideally consist of a diverse group of stakeholders, overseeing the planning, coordination, and monitoring of the SSIM process, stakeholders’ management as well as marketing and communication. The roles and responsibilities of the initiative should be clearly defined. Optimally, the SSIM is initiated and managed by one or more leading tourism organisation(s) or associations representing a specific geographical area (local, regional, national, transnational).
- Determination and availability of necessary financial budgets and HR resources to execute the SSIM.
- Setting up cross-country collaboration to create comparability of results.
The Intelligence Monitor focuses on three skills areas in five tourism subsectors:
Digital skills: an increasingly-needed array of skills that will enable workers to address labour market digital needs, for example, data management, conducting online business, using augmented reality technologies, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
Green skills: there is an increase in skills needs related to the environment, conscience and sustainable practices related to production and consumption and services related to tourism and hospitality. Green skills can be related to policy for energy saving, water cleaning and use of bioproducts, etc.
Social skills: in an increasingly digitalised world, transversal skills will become ever more relevant for all and social skills are important for all future workers in all kinds of tourism. Examples include problem-solving, entrepreneurship, creativity, socio-emotional, communicative, collaborative and multicultural awareness skills.
An important benefit of the SSIM is that it is flexible and can thus be used in various ways and at multiple levels: local, regional, national, or international, adding value to existing skills measuring systems, and improving flexibility and feasibility. The SSIM aims to provide an innovative and comparable common approach for assessing and identifying changing skills needs along the tourism value chain and ensuring that education and training systems are responsive to the evolving labour market needs. It does not set any fixed standards, nor does it provide any certification.
How to use the SSIM?
Gathering and unveiling this information is the main objective of the PANTOUR Sectoral Skills Intelligence Monitor (SSIM) methodology, as included and substantiated in this report. It is developed to support the tourism and hospitality sector, educational institutes, training providers and government bodies to continuously and longitudinally identify, assess, and monitor skills needs in order to make strategic choices to eradicate skills gaps for a future-proof tourism industry within the EU.
The SSIM consists of a flexible research methodologies toolkit, that can be used in a variety of circumstances in each country (or region), to continuously keep track of existing skills gaps, emerging (new) skills needs and job profiles, best practices and training needs to effectively address and cover gaps and future needs, in a structural cooperation between the relevant national and/or regional stakeholders (tourism associations, educational institutes, training providers, social partners, national/regional sector partnerships and/or governments). It can serve as a valuable tool to understand the current state of skills and make informed decisions regarding workforce development strategies.
Skills gaps can not only be mapped on an individual level but also on a team, organisational, or sectoral level. For example:
- Individual: when the duties of a certain position are changing, or an employee is falling below performance standards.
- Team: when a new project expects employees to complete a different set of tasks or use a new technology.
- Organisational: when the company is not achieving its goals, or if a strategy shift requires expanded capabilities to meet up with consumer expectations.
- Sectoral: e.g., global socioeconomic and demographic shifts, technological innovations, environmental pressures and changing values are changing general job requirements.
Keeping track of rapidly changing skills needs and bridging skills gaps is necessary to cope with a world in constant flux, posing major challenges for tourism businesses, education providers and governmental bodies. It does not only involve the acquisition of new skills, but also life-long education and continuous reskilling and upskilling.
In the graphic below, the flexible modular SSIM architecture with research and assessment methodologies (toolkit) is provided which allows countries and regions to apply and customise the SSIM methodology to their specific needs.