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.
Cardiff Met virtually attended a Museums Association webinar entitled Digital Futures Embracing New Strategies on 29th April 2021. Diana James summarises key insights on how museums in the UK responded to the challenge of the pandemic using digital technology, what they learnt and how the Next Tourism Generation project can help inform new strategies and address skills gaps.
In the week of 29th March 2021, local and international students from Cardiff Metropolitan University, Varna University, Bulgaria and City Unity College, Greece, studying for a MSc in Tourism and Hospitality Management, joined a 4-day virtual field study visit to Pembrokeshire in Wales. The Destination Pembrokeshire Partnership (DPP) made up of Pembrokeshire Tourism, Pembrokeshire County Council, PLANED & The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority have worked closely together to launch Pembrokeshire’s new Destination Management Organization ‘Visit Pembrokeshire’ in November 2020. This new Destination Management Organization is the first of its type in Wales bringing together the public, private and third sector to help drive growth and development.
Technology is transforming visitor attractions. The use of digital technology is now commonplace in attractions, including museums, to engage visitors, enhance their experience, interpret information and bring history and stories to life. Today, visitors can see and expect more uses of technology in museums including interactive media exhibits, use of smartphones, augmented and virtual reality and interactive apps, to create memorable and personalized experiences. Additionally, virtual tours have played a key role in engaging with visitors during Covid-19. Digital skills are thus becoming increasingly important in the tourism industry. The importance and demand for digital skills across tourism sub-sectors is highlighted by the Next Tourism Generation Alliance.
According to the recent UNESCO report “Museums around the world in the face of COVID 19”, 90% of museums, globally, have been forced to close their doors during the corona crisis and more than 10% may never reopen. Most cultural professionals have been forced to work from home and many have adapted their traditional roles to support different departments and functional areas of expertise. Faced with extremely challenging times, the management and staff of cultural institutions have been able to respond in rapid and creative ways to the social and cultural needs of their societies, taxing their professional skills. Museums and heritage institutions have experienced several changes during this process, many of the trends and new practices will remain after the crisis and management and staff will need to be ready to welcome those changes. Through this thought-provoking and stimulating period, NTG digital and socio-cultural skills have become even more prominent for museum and heritage professionals. This piece presents some of the most interesting initiatives developed by museums around the world during the lockdown period and the way professionals have responded to the challenges. It also presents some of the trends that will probably continue after the crisis.
Smart destination. A buzzword used to describe the digitalisation of tourist destinations. Specifically, it deals with the connection of digital and real worlds of experience and infrastructure elements. But, what exactly is behind it and where can these “smart” destinations already be found today?READ MORE
As the founder of Innofest, Anna van Nunen is all about bringing together innovation, sustainability and the world of festivals: festival driven innovation. Innofest uses festivals as testing grounds for innovation pilots and offers impact entrepreneurs a safe, measurable and private environment to test their prototypes. All innovation trends come along: from blockchain ticketing and circular economy to smart grid solutions. Anna makes these trends concrete and puts them into practice at festivals, one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors in the Netherlands.READ MORE
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 visitor attractions.
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