The future of tourism and hospitality labour: challenges, requirements, trends, skills and the impact of technology

Abstract

This study was designed to fill two main research gaps: the need for a multidimensional perspective on the future of tourism and hospitality (T&H) labour and the lack of studies from the perspectives of key stakeholders who are representatives of tourism organisations and involved in policymaking. Therefore, it unveils the perceptions of policymakers responsible for tourism organisations in Portugal towards the future of T&H labour. Following an exploratory qualitative case study approach based on semi-structured interviews with eleven policymakers, the results illustrate that the most prominent challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic created are the damage to practical ability, finding a skilled and experienced workforce, and attracting tourism labour back to the sector. However, there are some requirements to overcome such challenges in the future. Moreover, future trends and skills for T&H employment were revealed as new working models, digitisation and robotisation, and the expected skills such as management, analytical, digital marketing, and customer behaviour analysis. Finally, technology was found to have positive and negative impacts on T&H employment. The results and implications will benefit Portugal and different destinations in understanding the dimensions of T&H labour for the future and developing future actions, strategies and policies.