SKILLS AND COMPETENCES IN THE EU TOURISM SECTOR

The tourism sector accounts for almost 25 million jobs in Europe (around 11% of the total employment). The sector provides employment both to highly qualified, as well as to low-skilled workers. It offers job opportunities to both workers who enter the job market for the first time and to people re-entering the job market. It is the largest employer of migrant workers, part-time workers, as well as female workers (more than 60% of those employed are women), and young people (40% of those employed in HORECA are less than 35 years old)/

Contrary to other sectors, tourism industry still relies almost exclusively, and has to rely, on competences and skills of its human capital. High-quality client service, provided by adequately skilled staff, is the key precondition for surviving and growing in an increasingly fierce competition against new, emerging destinations. Yet, the industry, in particular SMEs, struggles to find and retain skilled employees.

The sector does not appear high on the list of the most popular graduate jobs, in particular due to negative perception of the job quality, seasonality and limited career prospects. Furthermore, in addition to the traditional qualification profile, tourism professionals are expected to deliver innovative and customised services for a wide range of target groups, including seniors, or travellers with special needs.

Moreover, the explosion and rapid evolution of digitalisation in the tourism sector requires new, specific knowledge not only from employees, but also from tourism entrepreneurs. SMEs often lack the necessary e-management skills that would enable them to keep up with the developments of online market places and distribution channels, new forms of marketing and communication with customers. In fact, SMEs in the tourism sector make relatively less use of formal learning, due to a combination of factors, including lack of financial resources, lack of time, limited human resources. This issue is particularly relevant for micro enterprises, such as small family business, that represent up to 90% of tourism economic operators. With a small workforce, the owner/manager and every member of its personnel (often family members) are expected to possess or develop a wide range of skills. Furthermore, running a tourism business, contrary to other economic activities, is often seen as a "lifestyle choice" rather than as a "profession". Hence, there is a stronger resistance to training among smaller tourism SMEs and a more deeply embedded reliance on "learning by doing". These factors could represent a detriment to the competitiveness and the economic viability of tourism SMEs. In addition, a 2/3 weak "training culture" in tourism organisations or enterprises can hamper the creation of a supportive environment to training and development, which is ultimately more likely to retain skilled workers.

Skills mismatch is among the fundamental problems hampering the competitiveness of the tourism industry. The competences acquired by tourism professionals at all levels of the skills spectrum during education and training often do not match the expected performance. Education providers have a limited understanding of the requirements of employers and expectations of travellers in terms of the service provided.

At the same time, youth unemployment in the European Union remains unacceptably high, while many tourism enterprises are missing out on the best talent. Therefore, it is important that industry, education providers and academia, professional associations and chambers of commerce, European institutions and national authorities be able and willing to invest in upgrading tourism skills, according to their relevant responsibilities, and in a shared effort with the other parts.

With this in view, the Commission has developed a series of policy actions and tools to be used by the industry, with the aim of tackling the skills challenge and exploiting the potential that tourism industry has for creating jobs and growth.

Since 2014, EURES – the EU Job Mobility Portal offers a dedicated section for generating skills passports for the tourism and hospitality sector. This tool facilitates a better match of supply and demand in the labour market and contributes to improving the mobility of European workers. It allows jobseekers to present their skills profiles, document their formal and informal qualifications, and have their experiences endorsed by previous employers. At the same time, employers can search for job candidates to fill vacancies.

A list of skills for three tourism subsectors: adventure, cultural and blue tourism, has been integrated into EURES' Skills passport for tourism industry, which should help tourism professionals identify the necessary skills and competences.

Further to this, and with a specific focus on providing services to travellers with special needs, the Commission conducted a study to map the skills needs to improve the accessibility and safety of tourism services for disabled people and people with special needs. It also developed a Tourism Business Portal which provides information, tutorials and tools for SMEs to learn more about various skills, such as setting-up, managing, promoting and going digital with their tourism business.

With the objective to help tourism entrepreneurs improve their digital skills, the Commission has published a pilot series of webinars on online marketing of tourism. In cooperation with the industry and academia, the Commission is developing the European Skills/Competences, Occupations and Qualifications (ESCO) classification specifically dedicated to skills profiles needed in the tourism sector. It will also explore the possibilities to see how certain existing initiatives, such as the European Alliance for Apprenticeships and the Drop'pin job matching site for young people, could be further exploited for the benefits of skills and employment in the tourism sector.

Finally, the Commission is currently carrying out a study to map performance of the supply side of education and training for tourism the results of which will be presented at a conference in October 2015.

The Commission intends to work closely with the European Parliament, the Member States, the industry and other relevant public and private stakeholders, with the intention to continue fostering cooperation mechanisms between national authorities, industry and education providers to develop a dynamic and productive tourism workforce that continuously upgrades its skills and competences.

Key Issues

1. How does business currently cope with high rotation and low retainment of personnel?
2. How to improve the attractiveness of tourism jobs and enhance career prospects in the field?
3. Which issues are most critical in the area of skills and competences in tourism?
4. How to enhance cooperation between the industry, education providers and public authorities to fill the skills gap and provide future tourism professionals with the adequate skills that meet the expectations of employers and tourists?
5. How to stimulate engagement of businesses in provision of education, on-site training, mentoring, and traineeship schemes?
6. What policy actions should the European Commission implement to help tourism SMEs to retain the much-needed qualified workforce?
7. How can the European Commission help tourism SMEs (especially micro enterprises) to overcome the different barriers to training and develop a supportive "training environment" which is an integral part of the organization's culture and strategy?