We live in interesting times. Whether a blessing or a curse (according to the famous Chinese proverb), in any case, we need to be flexible and quickly adapt to the new realities. The Covid-19 pandemic significantly enhanced the process of technology integration and the introduction of new standards and procedures.
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.
In this Blog, key NTG partner, TU Dublin, School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, explores accessibility, inclusion, best practice and skill requirements in tourism destinations. Paudie Healy, CEO of Universal Access Ireland, shares his insights and experiences of best practices in the sector.
It has been over three months since Covid-19 hit Europe and forced many countries to lock themselves down: large groups were not allowed anymore, #stayhome became the new normal and public transport and the streets have never been so empty. The tourism industry has been affected by many natural disasters, as well as political and economic turmoil, but when the whole world locked down due to the Coronavirus, many challenges were faced by European destinations. READ MORE
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
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.
The digital revolution is having a profound impact on tourist behaviour, business models and destinations at large (Femenia-Serra, Neuhofer, & Ivars-Baidal, 2019). Lately, the growing generation of big data by all components of the tourism ecosystem forces every single tourism organisation to adapt to a complex reality in which new types of professionals are required. Consequently, higher education needs to prepare future tourism practitioners who can face an increasingly complex scenario in which digital technology and data management skills will be crucial. However, in order to take action in this field, it is first required to assess whether and to what extent the higher education system is actually providing the needed knowledge and practical skills for tomorrow’s tourism workforce. This blog summarises the findings from a study in Spain examining this issue (see Femenia-Serra, 2018).READ MORE
Friday, September 20, 2019, Next Tourism Generation key partner ATLAS organizes the ATLAS Annual Conference 2019 in Girona, Spain, co-organized with NTG and the INCOME tourism project. During this event, professionals from the tourism industry, tourism education and governments will gather together in order to talk about the needs in tourism education. READ MORE
Students can find it challenging starting as a prepared professional in the tourism work field. The Next Tourism Generation Alliance (NTG) aims to address this gap and highlight possibilities and tools to promote professionalism and employability via university tourism modules. Breda University of Applied Sciences offers first-year Tourism Management students the E-Lab module, a 6-week course where they are introduced and acquainted with online programmes and tools used in the industry.
Dr. Vicky Richards, Programme Director for Undergraduate Tourism Programmes and Lecturer in Tourism, Hospitality and Events (THE) at Cardiff Metropolitan University teaches a 10-credit score module concentrating on social inclusion. Vicky has a wealth of experience and knowledge and has worked in disability services for 20 years within the third sector. From a tourism and hospitality point of view, she believes that the industry, such as hotels and restaurants, can easily begin to break down the barriers for people with disabilities and accessible tourism experiences. Next Tourism Generation (NTG) also aims to bring the attention to accessibility for all in tourism. In this blog, Heini Jones, the Communications Officer from the Wales NTG project, interviews Vicky about social inclusion and the importance within the industry sub-sectors.