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Careers in hospitality and tourism: Job list of opportunities for learning and travel

Hospitality careers

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The hospitality and tourism industry is booming thanks to accessible international travel and consumers’ enthusiasm for discovering new places.

Continuing growth in the industry means there is an enticing range of career paths in hospitality and tourism you can consider when deciding on your future, such as event manager, luxury manager, marketing manager, and more.

If you’re curious about what type of role might be best for you, there are plenty of options that combine exciting opportunities for personal development and working around the world.

In this article, we’ll go over the different hospitality and tourism career pathways you could aim towards. We’ll also discuss what the different roles entail and how you can gain the skills and knowledge to succeed in hospitality and tourism.

What is a hospitality and tourism career?

Career opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industry include a wide range of roles and responsibilities. The hospitality field revolves around providing exceptional experiences for guests and travelers.

While the stereotype may portray hospitality as simply serving drinks or waiting tables, the reality is far more varied. Hospitality is all about providing services and amenities to guests, ensuring their comfort, satisfaction, and enjoyment during their stay. This includes accommodations such as hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals, as well as food and beverage services, event planning, entertainment, and recreational activities.

Tourism involves the travel activities of individuals and groups for leisure, business, or other purposes. It encompasses everything from sightseeing and adventure tourism to cultural exchanges and eco-tourism.

A career in hospitality and tourism can take many forms, depending on one’s interests, skills, and qualifications. You can find everything from entry-level roles to managerial and executive careers, which are ideal roles for a lot of people.

Why pursue a career in the industry?

With tourism and hospitality booming there are more reasons than ever before to consider a career path in this rewarding sector.

Hospitality venues are keen to employ skilled and qualified individuals who can help their businesses thrive. The industry itself can be an exciting and endlessly interesting area to work in.

In this field, you’ll get to work with people from all over the world. You’ll also be able to work in a range of appealing locations since hospitality is truly a global industry. It’s also a great option for people who like to challenge themselves to continuously improve.

Find your path to success: hospitality and tourism jobs list

There are plenty of different employment opportunities in tourism and the hospitality industry, meaning that there are roles that suit everyone. Explore the wide array of opportunities available in this exciting industry as we look at a list of careers in hospitality and tourism, each offering pathways to success and fulfillment.

Hotel operations

This is a catch-all term that encompasses the various departments and functions within a hotel that work together to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the establishment. From front-of-house services that directly interact with guests to back-of-house operations that support the overall infrastructure, hotel operations are essential for delivering exceptional guest experiences.

What different hotel operations jobs are there?

Hotel operations roles include everything that makes a hotel run smoothly. These include:

• Front desk agent/receptionist
• Front of house manager
• Housekeeping
• Food and beverage service
• Food and beverage management
• Revenue management
• Sales and marketing
• Engineering and maintenance management
• General manager

Every department will have a hotel management role associated with it, such as the front of house manager overseeing all front desk agents and receptionists. At the very top is the general manager or executive manager, who ensures that all these different departments run smoothly together.

What are the different departments in a hotel?

There are a range of different departments in a hotel, including:

• Front of house
• Back of house and housekeeping
• Maintenance
• Event management
• Food and beverage services
• Guest experience

Hotels also need general managers who handle the overall operations of all these departments.

What skills are required to work in hotel operations?

To work in hotel operations, you should work on building skills such as:

• Time management
• Team leadership
• Organization
• Analytical skills
• Communication

These useful transferable skills will set you up well for a hospitality and tourism career and in other areas too.

How can I start a career in hotel management?

There are two main routes to working in hotel management. You can either start working your way up from entry-level roles via other careers in the hotel industry or you can study for a hospitality degree .

Salaries in Hotel operations

Working in hotel operations can be lucrative if you aim for a hospitality management career. Some of the top salaries are:

• Assistant hotel manager: $64,993
• Hotel general manager: $118,000
• Hotel finance director: $195,241
• Housekeeping manager: $62,601

Travel and tourism

Unlike hospitality, which focuses on providing accommodation, food, and other services to guests, travel and tourism encompass a broader spectrum of experiences and activities beyond the confines of a hotel or resort. While hospitality is an integral part of the travel and tourism industry, the latter extends to include transportation, attractions, tour operators, travel agencies, and destination management organizations.

List of professions in the tourism industry

There are also a wide range of travel and tourism industry jobs, such as:

• Travel agency management
• Tour guide positions
• Event planning and coordination
• Transportation and logistics in the tourism industry
• Adventure and eco-tourism careers
• Destination marketing
• Cruise ship management
• Tourism research and analysis

These will have many of the same requirements as hotel roles. However, they can lead to working in varied environments, especially if you work in luxury management , which focuses on high-end services.

Salaries in travel and tourism

Choosing these careers in tourism and travel can lead to high salaries, such as:

• Cruise ship director: $64,267
• Travel agent: $59,263
• Destination marketer $108,782
• Tourism manager: $76,729

Restaurant and culinary services

This sector of the hospitality industry focuses on providing food and beverage services to customers, offering a diverse array of culinary experiences tailored to meet varying tastes, preferences, and occasions. From the ambiance and presentation to the quality and taste of the food, restaurant and culinary services play a pivotal role in creating memorable dining experiences for patrons. 

Interesting roles in the restaurant and culinary services

Hospitality careers also include food and beverage services work, which includes:

• Restaurant management positions
• Bar managers
• Culinary arts and chef careers
• Front-of-house and back-of-house staff for restaurants
• Sommeliers and beverage professionals
• Catering and event management

Salaries in the restaurant and culinary services

If you are looking at culinary job opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industry, you could expect salaries such as:

• Restaurant manager: $58,442
• Bar manager: $76,586
• Catering manager: $53,566
• Head chef: $95,100
• Sommelier: $63,788

What skills are required to work in restaurant management?

As well as the management skills you’d need for any of these hospitality careers, you’ll also be expected to have culinary experience for a role in restaurant management. You could gain this either through specialized study or by working in a professional kitchen environment, a bar or with a catering company. The skills you will need include:

• Customer service
• Multi tasking
• Organizational skills

What is the role of a sommelier?

A sommelier is a wine expert. They are usually responsible for choosing and updating a venue’s wine list. They’ll also work with chefs to make sure dishes have suitable wine pairings and they can often give advice to customers on wines that enhance their menu selections.

Hospitality marketing and sales

This industry encompasses a range of activities, including market research, advertising, branding, digital marketing, sales campaigns, and customer relationship management. The goal of hospitality marketing and sales is to identify target markets, communicate the value proposition of hospitality offerings, and drive bookings and reservations through effective promotional strategies and sales efforts.

Roles to consider in hospitality marketing and sales jobs

amriphoto/E+ via Getty Images

Another career option in hospitality is to work in marketing and sales. This can mean being responsible for:

• Sales and revenue management
• Digital marketing strategies for hotels and travel companies
• Branding and public relations
• Customer service and guest relations

How can I pursue a career in hospitality marketing?

For one of these hospitality careers, you will need a good knowledge of both the hospitality field and marketing. You can learn the skills you need from a college or hospitality school in Switzerland to give you the best chances of success.

What skills are essential for a sales manager in the hospitality industry?

Vital skills for a marketing or sales job in hospitality and tourism, such as marketing manager, include:

• Project management
• Data analysis

Salaries in hospitality marketing and sales

Sales and marketing roles often offer salaries in the higher bands of hospitality, such as:

• Hotel sales manager: $119,726
• Director of sales: $195,525
• Marketing manager: $134,424
• Sales strategy analyst: $63,585

Event planning and management 

These roles involve the meticulous coordination and execution of various events, ranging from corporate conferences and weddings to festivals and special occasions. The responsibilities include venue selection, logistics planning, budget management, vendor coordination, and on-site supervision. Event planners and managers work closely with clients to understand their objectives, preferences, and expectations, tailoring each event to meet specific needs and create memorable experiences for attendees. 

Careers in event planning and management

There are plenty of career opportunities in event hospitality, including:

• Wedding planner
• Corporate event planner
• Event manager
• Event designer
• Event marketing specialist

What skills do I need for event planning?

In order to be successful in the field of event management and planning, you will need to build skills such as:

• Problem solving

Event management salaries

Salaries in event management often depend on which kind of events you plan, and at what venues. As a rough guide, you could earn:

• Wedding planner: $39,465
• Event planner: $63,154
• Corporate event planner: $74,119
• Event manager: $111,710
• Event marketing: $188,417

Learn more about Hospitality Careers

Hospitality Careers

Guide to career paths in hospitality

Your career guide: hospitality and tourism management jobs

Hospitality and tourism careers: how to get started.

What’s the most international career path?

Transitioning into a career in hospitality and tourism.

If you are looking to start your career in the hospitality and tourism professions, the important steps are:

• Education and training to get you the skills and qualifications needed for hospitality employment prospects
• Learning transferable skills, such as those listed in this article, to help you in whatever hospitality career you move into
• Networking and making industry connections to help you find job opportunities in tourism and hospitality
• Doing a hospitality internship or apprenticeship to give you real-world experience

What qualifications do I need to pursue a career in hospitality and tourism?

The best qualifications for hospitality careers are specialist hospitality certificates.

Whether you’re thinking about a bachelor’s degree, a diploma or an advanced qualification, these courses will give you the experience and skills necessary to compete for the most sought-after careers in the industry.

If you are looking at a career as a restaurant manager, you should also look for some culinary qualifications.

If you’re looking at degree options, you should aim to choose a course that includes internships. These will provide vital on-the-job training, as well as giving you a chance to network with professionals who are already established.

What are the job prospects and growth potential in the industry?

The hospitality and tourism industries have huge potential for growth due to the demand for quality travel experiences from a global customer base.

This means there are many opportunities for career advancement, especially in luxury management and other high-end hospitality sectors.

Once established in hospitality and tourism, there are also plenty of options to either specialize in area-specific management roles or to aim for general management or executive management roles.

All of these jobs in hospitality will have their own challenges and benefits.

What skills are important for success in hospitality and tourism?

There are many skills you can develop to improve your prospects in the  hospitality business . Some of those you should work on consolidating include:

• Communication, both written and verbal
• Time management skills
• Team leadership skills
• Analytical and data handling skills

All of these are transferable or soft skills, which you can use in any job role. You’ll also need to learn specific skills relating to the role you want.

For example, if you want to work in restaurant management, you should aim to build culinary skills alongside those listed above.

If you want to work in sales management, you should aim to develop skills in finance and marketing.

Why hospitality and tourism careers?

Working in hospitality and tourism can be a great career for people who want to challenge themselves, travel, be constantly learning and work in a truly global enterprise.

The sector is experiencing healthy growth and consumer enthusiasm for travel and new experiences is not likely to diminish. You can expect rewarding career prospects with the possibility of advancement.

There are roles to suit all talents, including front of house, food and beverage management, hotel manager, general manager and lots more.

If you want to embrace any of the roles on our hospitality job list, the most efficient route is to get a world-recognized hospitality degree that ensures you gain the skills and knowledge to succeed.

If you want to pursue any of these  hospitality careers , from hotel general manager to  becoming an event planner , getting a quality education can be the first and most essential step.

Photo credits Main image:  Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Setting the standard in hospitality degrees

Our world-leading hospitality bachelor’s degree is an intensive mix of developing skills and making priceless connections that mean access to roles at the highest levels of the hospitality industry.

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10 Best Careers in the Tourism Industry

Since travellers travel throughout the year to explore naturally beautiful locations with cultural, spiritual, or historical importance and locations that provide significant business potential, tourism is a periodically active and dynamic sector. The travel, accommodation, food, and entertainment industries are significant segments of the tourism industry. These industries offer employment opportunities that require various training and expertise. In this article, you look at the best careers in the tourism industry and their key responsibilities.

1. Resort Manager

Primary responsibilities: Resort managers’ main responsibilities include controlling a resort’s staff, amenities, and guest interactions. They are in charge of assuring client happiness, upkeep of the building, promotion of services, and staff training. Since resorts are complete vacation destinations, resort managers work together with other employees to ensure that there is always an adequate supply of food, drinks, and other essentials that a visitor could need.

2. Interpreter

Primary responsibilities: Professionals with strong written and oral multilingual skills include interpreters. They translate data between different languages. They can learn how to understand simultaneously and sequentially. Interpreters are employed by embassies, travel agencies, language schools, and event management firms to assist clients during international travels. It is one of the most unique careers in the tourism industry.

3. Assistant Chef

Primary responsibilities: In a restaurant kitchen, assistant chefs assist with the duties of an executive or head chef. They might do prep work, assist with menu planning, and prepare meals for restaurant patrons. They are in charge of preserving the kitchen’s cleanliness and safety. Additionally, assistant chefs oversee and assign tasks to other kitchen employees. They must also inspect the materials used in the kitchen for quality and freshness as their job in the broad sectors of careers in the tourism industry.

4. Adventure Guide

Primary responsibilities: Adventure guides’ main responsibilities include making travel arrangements and leading activities for adventure visitors. They could be skilled at sports like skiing, river rafting, mountaineering, trekking, and hiking. For the benefit of tourists, they should obtain licenses and permits from local authorities. They must also inform their customers about the dangers, the necessary precautions, and the significant physical requirements of an activity. Before introducing participants to adventure sports and activities, they should train and acclimatize them to their environment in careers in the tourism industry.

5. Restaurant Manager

Primary responsibilities: Among the various careers in the tourism industry, a restaurant manager is to provide exceptional food and service while upholding a certain standard of customer service. They collaborate with the chef and the culinary staff to develop the meals and provide input on the caliber of the cuisine and service. They collaborate with suppliers to find high-quality ingredients. To meet the appropriate health and safety regulations, they also keep the kitchen and eating area clean and hygienic. Together with the management, they plan and hire personnel for the restaurant.

6. A Tour Guide

Primary responsibilities: The main responsibilities of tour guides are to accompany visitors on guided tours of various sites, including historical sites, monuments, and museums. Just like a career in travel writing , they typically use their knowledge to educate and amuse their guests by giving them accurate information about the touring areas. Travel companies and lodging establishments may assign a single guide to accompany visitors throughout their stay or hire local guides as needed. You can apply for a position in hospitality companies or register with regional state government offices to become a licensed tour guide.

7. Travel Consultant

Primary responsibilities: Travel consultants with expertise in organising domestic and international trips for individuals or groups are employed by hotels, travel websites, and travel agencies. They give itinerary suggestions in accordance with the tourists’ needs, spending limits, and lengths of stay. They bargain for attractive deals and discounts with hotels, airlines, and other travel agencies, then pass the savings to their clients. Travel consultants can work independently or with a group of experts known as tour operators to get reservations.

8. Hotel Manager

Primary responsibilities: A hotel manager, sometimes known as a lodging manager, is a member of the hospitality industry who is in charge of running hotels, motels, and resorts. In order to guarantee guests’ satisfaction, they oversee the facility’s operations and serve in a variety of roles. A hotel manager examines the revenue and budget for their establishment to plan expenses and raise profitability. They assess the performance of many departments and provide suggestions for development in this part of careers in the tourism industry.

9. Event Specialist

Primary responsibilities: An event specialist organises and manages gatherings of people for business, pleasure, or celebration. Experts in event planning also collaborate with tour operators to organise regular events and activities throughout the year. They may also collaborate with state and regional authorities to organise and carry out major events that draw visitors from far and wide. They also evaluate the effectiveness of various departments and provide suggestions for development in this sector of careers in the tourism industry.

10. Specialist Tour manager

Primary responsibilities: Tour managers have specialised knowledge of domestic and foreign places. As one option of careers in the tourism industry, they work with local and foreign tourists, assisting them with trip paperwork, obtaining necessary visas and clearances, and making advance hotel and transport reservations. Additionally, tour directors oversee the tour’s finances and ensure all other vendors keep their costs within the budgetary parameters. It is one of the best careers for those who love to travel.

What are some of the most memorable parts of your most recent vacation? The large, ocean-view hotel room? The outings that were scheduled for a while you were gone? Perhaps the exquisite cuisine at the upmarket eatery you visited. From the travel agent who arranged your flights and lodging to the hotel’s maid and the tour guide who toured you, many people with careers in the tourism industry worked behind the scenes to ensure you had a wonderful holiday.

Want personalised advice on your career selection from a seasoned professional? If you’re interested, look into career counselling online . With the aid of professionals, you may write an effective CV. Schedule a meeting right away!

Aishwarya Maju

Aishwarya delves into Partnerships & Alliances, along with the ICCC vertical. She earned her bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Delhi. Having a broad background in Program Management, client interaction, and problem-solving, Aishwarya is exploring and expanding her expertise in career coaching. Her love for languages has piqued her curiosity in learning the Japanese language. Her vivacious personality and quirkiness is what everyone admires.

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Careers in Travel

A comprehensive overview of the dominant career paths in the travel industry..

CareerExplorer is a free career test made for success seekers and the curious minded.

Do you find yourself daydreaming of far away places? For people with a sense of adventure and a love of new experiences, a career in travel can be incredibly rewarding. But with the rise of new technology and a constantly changing economy, jobs in this area look almost nothing like they did just a couple of decades ago.

What does a career in travel look like today? Here, we’ll explore some of the most common professions in this area and how they can help you see the world.

Flight Attendant

Also known as in-flight crew member, cabin crew member, cabin attendant, air host(ess), and airline steward(ess).

Of all the careers in travel, flight attendant is probably one of the most people-focused. These friendly professionals are the face of the airline industry, responsible for ensuring passengers are safe and comfortable for the duration of their flight. You may remember them from the last time you traveled—perhaps more for the drink cart in front of them than for their personality.

But flight attendants do much more than people assume. In addition to providing basic customer service, they also secure the plane during takeoff, landing, and bouts of turbulence, and assist in emergency situations when they occur by leading evacuations, administering first aid, and even doing some firefighting. Maintaining a pleasant disposition is important in this career, but it’s really only the tip of the iceberg.

What are the perks of being a flight attendant?

Many people enter this career because they love to travel. And, for those with wanderlust, that’s probably the best part of the job: flight attendants literally get paid to fly. Airlines provide staff with free accommodation on long haul flights, plus, in most cases, a daily food allowance, so long-haul flights can essentially become mini all-expenses-paid vacations. There may only be a little bit of extra time to explore the destination between landing and takeoff, but it’s still an incredible way to see the world.

Other perks include the downtime. Although the work itself can be intense, it also involves a lot of leisure. On lengthier trips, flight attendants even get to sleep on the job! They also have more control over their schedule than people in more “typical” careers; every few weeks, attendants “bid” on all available flights to decide who flies when and where. Shifts are assigned by seniority, which means that, with enough time and experience, flight attendants can craft their dream schedule.

These perks, plus the fact that it’s possible to get hired right out of high school, makes flight attending an appealing line of work for many.

How much time do flight attendants spend away from home?

A career as a flight attendant isn’t all fun and games. Full-time attendants usually spend between 75 and 100 hours a month in the air, and another 50 hours on the ground, doing paperwork, waiting for planes, and preparing for flights. This can translate to a lot of time away from home, often working long, variable hours.

Perhaps because of the bizarre schedule, about one in four flight attendants work part-time. This option is obviously less lucrative than working full-time, but can make it easier to maintain a relatively normal lifestyle and raise a family.

Flight attendants are paid to see the world…sort of

Not only does flight attending require a lot of time away from home, it also involves a lot of unpaid work. Salaries are completely dependent on the number of hours spent in flight, so flight attendants aren’t compensated for the time they spend boarding, taxiing, or commuting to and from the airport. If a flight gets cancelled or delayed, so does the attendant’s pay.

In the US, the average salary is about $45,000. But depending on the airline, as well as the attendant’s schedule and level of experience, that number can range anywhere between $23,000 and $80,000.

Travel Agent

You’ve probably seen her before in an old movie: a smiling woman in a headset, stationed at her computer against a backdrop of faded tropical posters. But the day-to-day of today’s travel agents looks very different from what it did even ten years ago.

What do travel agents do?

At the most basic level, travel agents help simplify the trip planning process for their clients. They research fares and schedules; book flights, tours, and hotels; and advise clients on how to make the most of their time away. The specifics of their day-to-day vary a lot depending on where and for whom they work. But no matter what their focus, all travel agents share a common goal: customer satisfaction. This is a people-focused profession, committed to ensuring clients have the most pleasant, safe, and rewarding travel experiences possible.

There are two kinds of travel agents…

....each with very different lifestyles:

• Leisure travel agents work primarily with individuals, organizing everything from family vacations to honeymoon getaways. Although some of them work independently, most choose to work under a host agency. These businesses “employ” home-based agents through independent-contractor agreements, offering them services like marketing, training, and technology in exchange for a cut of their commissions.
• Corporate travel agents , on the other hand, primarily work with businesses, booking accommodation and flights for employees attending sales meetings, conferences, and more. Whereas leisure agents often work remotely on their own schedule, those in corporate positions tend to work in offices. It’s a standard 9-to-5 job, or something similar.

How do travel agents make money?

Travel agents earn their income in three ways, through commissions, service fees, and salary. Typically, vendors pay a 10-15% commission whenever an agent books a car rental, hotel, or cruise for a client. They also pay about 20-30% on travel insurance sales, though all of these rates can vary depending on the vendor, the agent, and how the booking was made.

In addition to commissions, some travel agents also charge clients a service fee for the time spent researching and creating their itinerary. These usually range somewhere between $75 and $200, but can be as high as $500 for more complicated trips.

Finally, many agents who work for an employer—either a host agency or a corporate sector company—also earn a salary on top of their commissions, adding a bit of stability to their income.

How much do travel agents make?

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of variation in how much travel agents make. The average annual wage for US travel agents is just shy of $40,000 , but agents can earn as little as $23,000 or as much as $68,000.

Do travel agents get to travel themselves?

The bulk of a travel agent’s time is usually spent indoors: either at home, if they work remotely, or in an office. Most of their day is spent on the phone or the computer, talking to clients, airlines, hotels, and other vendors or preparing itineraries.

That said, many do spend some time visiting the destinations they promote in order to make better-informed recommendations to their clients. While away, they might visit restaurants, resorts, or hotels, or even try a guided tour.

Plus, many agents are able to use their connections to travel at a discount price. So seeing the world may not always be part of the job—but it definitely can be.

Is travel agent a doomed profession?

Online booking is only getting easier, and travelers are increasingly choosing to organize their own flights and accommodation. Although many travel agents are still running successful businesses, employment opportunities are expected to decrease by 12% in the next 10 years. For the right person, a career in this industry is still possible—but staying afloat will take dedication, adaptability, and a healthy dose of optimism.

People skills, local knowledge, and a sense of adventure—these are just some of the traits that make for a stellar tour guide. For extraverted explorers, a career in this field can be fun, varied, and rewarding.

Do tour guides get paid to explore the world?

At the most basic level, tour guides help travelers make the most of their trip by providing cultural, historical, or environmental information about their local surroundings. Working on foot, bus, bicycle, or even riverboat, they guide their clients through some of the most stunning destinations on earth, offering safety tips, expert knowledge, and helpful advice along the way. From the calm Tuscan countryside to the busy streets of Tokyo, tour guides really can work anywhere.

However, the life of a tour guide isn’t always full of novelty and excitement. While some tour guides do travel on the job, many work primarily in a single destination, showing visitors around a particular city, cultural site, or museum.

What are the different kinds of tour guides?

Tour guides can look dramatically different depending on where they work and what kind of travel experience they offer. Some of the most common tour guide variations include:

• Heritage Guides provide historical, archeological, or architectural information about ancient sites such as tombs, temples, and museums.
• Culture Guides offer knowledge about the lifestyle, religion, or cuisine of the local population. They might focus on one particular city, specialize in certain sites (like vineyards or ancient temples), or cover an entire geographical region.
• Adventure Guides lead clients on active, experience-based tours of the destination. Guides typically focus on one or more sports, such as trekking, skiing, or scuba diving, and have undergone some form of outdoors and first aid training.
• Nature/Eco Guides help visitors enjoy the local wildlife and landscapes, offering tours or safaris of deserts, gardens, forests, and more.
• Special Interest Guides play a similar role as adventure guides, offering targeted experiences such as golf, shopping, or wedding tours.

There are different roles available within each of these areas. Tour guides simply offer commentary about the destinations they visit, whereas tour directors are also responsible for planning the itinerary, coordinating the logistics, and trouble shooting any complications that arise along the way.

Do tour guides actually get paid?

Tour guiding is a fun gig, but not a particularly well-paid one. The average tour guide salary punches in just under $24,000 US , although experienced tour guides earn about $35,000 per year. Of course, this can vary depending on location, specialization, experience, and clientele.

Luckily, it’s also a relatively low-barrier career, usually requiring little more than a drivers license and an eager attitude. You may need to pass a first aid course or some other form of professional training for certain jobs, but you probably won’t be paying off any major student loans.

Travel Blogger

Equally low-barrier and adventurous is the world of travel blogging. Requiring little more than a laptop, a strong internet connection, and an entrepreneurial spirit, this exciting career can open doors all across the globe.

How do travel bloggers make money?

It may not look that way from their websites, but travel bloggers do a lot more than just write and explore. That’s because, like most bloggers , they rarely make money from the posts they produce. Instead, travel bloggers rely on a mix of advertising, sponsored campaigns, freelancing, and affiliate linking to generate income, using their blog primarily as a platform to attract potential partners. Many even sell related products, such as books, travel guides, podcasts, or public speaking services, on the side to make extra cash.

Because of this, the finances of travel blogging can look extremely different from one person to the next. While there are some bloggers who report making as much as $150,000 a year, others are barely able to break even. According to a survey of more than 1000 bloggers, only about 17% are able to sustain their lifestyle on their blog salaries, while more than 80% never make more than $100.

But although it’s a tough industry, it is possible to succeed. By diversifying their income and investing enough time and effort, well-established travel bloggers can make a stable $2,000 to $5,000 a month.

How do I become a travel blogger?

One of the reasons so many travel bloggers fail is because it’s so easy to become one. The real question isn’t “How do I become a travel blogger?” but “How do I become a successful one?”

To get started, aspiring travel bloggers will need a laptop, a working website, a passport, and enough cash to live and travel for at least two years. That’s because building a large enough audience to monetize takes time. Those who don’t have the savings required will likely need to take on additional part-time work while they get started.

Next, most new bloggers dedicate their time to posting lots of high quality, interesting, and useful content. The content itself can be about almost anything—travel tips, photography, hiking recommendations, etc—as long as it’s relatively frequent (one-two times a week) and provides real value to readers. Many bloggers also pitch stories to major media outlets, write guest posts on popular blogs, or invest in digital advertising to gain further attention. But no matter the strategy, the goal for any beginner travel blogger is the same: get readers first, revenue second.

Super Yacht Crew

Celebrity clients, a luxurious lifestyle, months and months on the open ocean: could any career sound dreamier? Jobs on a super yacht may not look quite like they do on Below Deck , but there’s no denying this is a fabulous way to see the world.

What is a super yacht?

Super yachts are massive, luxury boats measuring anywhere from 24 to 100 metres long. Expensive to buy and even more expensive to maintain, they are usually owned by the extremely rich and famous and their families. While some super yachts never make it out of the harbor, others will travel to some of the most exclusive destinations on earth, making them one of the most attractive work settings for those with wanderlust.

What does a super yacht crew do?

No matter what its size, almost every super yacht is manned by a group of skilled professionals: the super yacht crew. These personable and hard-working individuals live on board the vessel during long journeys, assisting with everything from cleaning to navigation.

Roles are varied, and can differ from yacht to yacht, but the most common positions include:

• Captain and First officer
• Mate and Deckhand
• Chief and Junior Steward(ess)
• Chef and Sous Chef
• First and Second Engineer

Some of these positions, like first engineer, are more technical, requiring extensive mechanical or seafaring knowledge. Others, like junior steward, are primarily service based. But no matter what their role, all members of the super yacht crew share a common goal: ensuring their employers and their guests are comfortable and safe for the duration of the voyage.

What’s the best thing about working on a super yacht?

For most people in this profession, the top attraction is the travel. Although real vacations are rare during the yachting season, most captains will try to give staff an occasional day off whenever possible. It may not offer a lot of time for sight seeing, but it does provide an opportunity to explore some of the world’s most exotic destinations—all expenses paid.

Is the super yacht life as glamorous as it sounds?

Many people are attracted to a super yacht career because of the lifestyle involved, but the daily reality of the super yacht crew is a little less glamorous than you’d expect:

• Living Conditions: Crew members live, eat, and work together closely for the duration of the voyage, which can be weeks or even months long. Accommodations are usually small and simple—either solo cabins or shared bunk rooms—and although privacy is possible, it’s usually rare. If you need a lot of alone time, this probably isn’t the career for you.
• Food: Meals aboard are usually prepared by the crew chef, which means they tend to be delicious, extremely high quality, and—best of all—free.
• Schedule: Super yacht crew live and work in the same space for months on end, which can make it difficult to maintain any real separation between work time and down time. Crews tend to be small and the clientele are often demanding, so working 12- to 14-hour shifts isn’t unusual.

Do super yacht jobs pay well?

Depending on the crew member’s experience and the size of the vessel, super yacht crew salaries can vary significantly. But in general, this is a very well-paid line of work—especially relative to other travel careers. Chief stewards can expect to make anywhere from $3000 to $8000 a month, and it’s not uncommon to see salaries as high as $90,000 on larger vessels.

Corporate Travel Careers

Got the travel bug but looking for a something more stable? Don’t fret—there are a plethora of corporate jobs in the travel sector. Providing all of the benefits of more “traditional” work, these exciting options offer a chance to see the world and plan for the future.

What kinds of travel companies offer corporate careers?

Corporate travel careers exist in a wide array of settings, each of which comes with its unique set of opportunities, perks, and drawbacks.

Because of the diversity of options, it can be hard to know where to look for a corporate travel job. But some of the most common work settings include:

• Airlines and airports
• Travel agencies
• Tour organizations
• Tourism offices
• Cruise companies (boat, bus, rail, etc.)
• Hotels, resorts, and hostels

What corporate jobs can I get in the travel industry?

Finding the right travel career isn’t just about deciding where to work; it also involves choosing the right kind of position. Corporate tourism jobs come in all shapes and sizes—too many to cover here—but here’s a quick list of some of the most popular ones:

• Marketing and publicity: From buying ads to writing website content, there are lots of ways to get involved in the promotional side of travel. Tasks might include crafting blog posts to boost an airline’s SEO, pitching news stories to travel magazines about an edgy new adventure tour, or designing an email newsletter to encourage signups for an upcoming cruise.
• Sales: Sales jobs in travel can include everything from cold calling potential customers to encourage tour signups to managing an entire sales department at an airport. Some standard duties in this line of work include creating sales plans, identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), training sales staff, providing customer service, and more.
• Finance: Even train companies need accountants! There are a variety of financial jobs in the travel industry, which can include everything from managing a hostel’s A/R and A/P processes to working as an in-house auditor at a major resort.
• IT: As the travel industry becomes more and more digital, a career in IT can be a lucrative option. Whether it’s building online booking software or creating a new tourism app, there are lots of opportunities for technologically savvy wanderers.

What are the benefits of a corporate travel career?

Although corporate jobs may not be as hands-on as others travel careers, they do offer many of the same perks. Many hotel chains offer discounted (or even free) accommodation to their employees, making it easy to travel on a budget. The same is true for many airlines, tour companies, hostels, and travel agencies. In the right career, you can expect to travel at low cost almost anywhere in the world.

At the same time, corporate careers often come with advantages that other travel jobs can’t provide: excellent benefits, a flexible work schedule, an impressive salary, and a high level of job security. This added stability can make the corporate route an appealing option for travellers with children, mortgages, or other responsibilities at home.

A writer, researcher, and occasional spoon carver, she knows that the "right" career sometimes looks nothing like what you expected.

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The tourism and hospitality career progression pathway

International Hospitality Review

ISSN : 2516-8142

Article publication date: 22 July 2022

Issue publication date: 25 March 2024

The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive investigation into declining and emerging occupations and job titles and to develop a national career progression pathway for the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Anchored on the Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study used face to face in-depth interviews of 33 industry stakeholders: policymakers, trade association, training providers and beneficiaries (T&H).

The finding reveals that only the “watchman” occupation was identified as the declining job while majority of the emerging jobs were more related to information technology and environmental occupations (website designers, digital marketers, data analysts, hygienists, and safety and hazard experts).

Practical implications

The findings provide a valuable signal for the growing number of jobs in security services, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations, which the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture including practitioners including HR directors and general managers should respond timely to and to these growing needs in order to remain competitive in the sector.

Originality/value

This is the first study in context that responded to a call by industry players to fill in a practical knowledge gap in examining declining and emerging jobs and job titles in the T&H sector. The study provides vocational insights into mapping the entry level requirements for the jobs allied with occupations in the national technical and vocational educational training qualifications framework of Ghana at the national level.

• Career progression pathway
• Declining occupation
• Emerging occupation
• Social cognitive career theory
• Tourism and hospitality

Preko, A. and Anyigba, H. (2024), "The tourism and hospitality career progression pathway", International Hospitality Review , Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 54-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-02-2022-0005

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Alexander Preko and Hod Anyigba

Published in International Hospitality Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

A career development path provides employees with an ongoing mechanism to enhance their skills and knowledge that can lead to mastery of their current jobs, promotions and transfers to new or different positions – Society of Human Resource Management ( SHRM, 2017 , p. 12).

Employability and career development in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) industry has become the key focus for researchers and practitioners, particularly for hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, cruises, events, casinos, parks, entertainment and other tourism-related services ( Calinaud, Kokkranikal, & Gebbels, 2021 ). To this end, employers in the hospitality and tourism sector are directing efforts toward recruiting and selecting industry-specific talents and candidates for jobs in the sector to avert underperformance and turnover rates ( Aicher, Buning, & Newland, 2020 ; Calinaud et al. , 2021 ; Cassel, Thulemark, & Duncan, 2018 ). The barriers to career development in the T&H industry and hence their mobility in the industry are evident, and have been in the apparent frame of attention ( Cassel et al. , 2018 ). For example, Cassel et al. (2018) noted that in Sweden, the supply of labour and supply of competence are critical issues facing the sector. Similarly, due to the industry's poor reputation for good jobs, attracting and retaining staff worldwide has always been a challenge ( Barron, Maxwell, Broadbridge, & Ogden, 2007 ; Baum, 2015 ). Mobility in the T&H industry is particularly alarming because the education levels in the sector are low, the entrance barriers are relatively low compared to other industries, renumerations are low, and it is quite easy to change jobs in the sector because most jobs are mostly temporary, and sometimes seasonal ( Hemdi & Nasurdin, 2006 ). These staff mobility problems pose serious challenges to career development and overall growth of the sector. A few studies have attempted to address the mobility, turnover and career pathway problems in the T&H industry. These studies, however, have largely been conducted in advanced economy contexts (see: Cassel et al. , 2018 ; Chang & Tse, 2015 ), with set limitations in terms of methodology, theory and scope. This issue presents an apparent evidence gap and practice–knowledge gap. A different study context, such as a developing country context, presents a rare opportunity to investigate career pathways pertinent to the local T&H industry.

According to TIME's 2021 world's greatest places list, Accra (capital of Ghana) is the Number 1 destination in Africa for tourists ( Oluwole, 2022 ). In spite of this gain, Ghana's T&H industry has faced major challenges of fragmented and uncoordinated career pathway progressions that undermine the development of the sector. This suggests the inability of the T&H sector to comprehensively define the occupations in the industry. For example, Ghanaian graduates who enter the T&H labor market are not perfectly aligned and suited to the requirements of the labor market. The T&H labor market, as it is today, is having growth problems. A resource constrained post-COVID-19 scenario unsurprisingly poses an existential threat – calling for a proper retooling and skill-set enhancement for industry players. Currently, an overview of Ghana's T&H industry indicates that tourism is regarded as the fourth income generating sector after gold, cocoa and oil ( MOTAC, 2019 ). In 2018, the industry contributed US$ 1,947.5 million, which was an increase of 4.9% of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ( MOTAC, 2019 ). A report of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (2017) estimates that the sector's contribution to Ghana's GDP will increase by 4.2% to US$ 4,522.3 million by 2028. In terms of employment, the industry has offered approximately 692,000 direct and indirect jobs, which represented 5.3% of the total national employments in 2017 ( WTTC, 2017 ). This figure is estimated to grow to 807,000 jobs by 2028 ( WTTC, 2017 ).

to examine existing, declining and emerging occupations in the Ghanaian tourism and hospitality sector;

to examine the entry level requirements for the jobs associated with the occupations in the sector in accordance with the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Qualification Framework (NTVETQF); and

to develop national career pathways for possible T&H job progressions from lower to higher qualifications.

Indeed, investigations of this nature within the tourism literature are important, given the critical roles (income earner, employment generation, foreign exchange earner and investment attracter) the sector plays in the development of any given economy. It is, therefore, imperative to critically examine the status quo, and offer practical yet crucial solutions to policymakers and practitioners. There is also the need to extend our understanding of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT).

The study contributes to the growing literature on career development in the T&H in three ways. First, this study is among the first to develop a career map and anticipation structure for the T&H industry to fill an evidence gap. Second, the study contributes to the practice–knowledge gap in the literature by heeding to ILO and researchers' calls to solve the turnover, career mismatch (skills anticipation and mismatch), career progression and job satisfaction problems in the T&H industry ( Cassel et al. , 2018 ; ILO, 2020 ). Third, the novelty of the study is hinged on three theoretical contributions. First, the SCCT is extended and applied to fit career development in the T&H sector. Previously, self-efficacy or individual behavior was a major consideration in personal career development. However, in today's dynamic and competitive labor market, the T&H job environment is largely influenced by the national career paths, which is an extension of the SCCT theory. Second, the study reveals that self-efficacy may be enhanced when individuals are subjected to training in specific career pathways. Lastly, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study attempts to apply the theory to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity of person, behavior and context.

The study is structured in the following ways. First, we present a review of the existing literature on career progression in T&H. Next, we present the data collection and data analysis and then the main findings, discussion, limitation and future research direction. Finally, we present the conclusions and implications of the study.

Literature review

The social cognitive career theory (scct).

In general, career theories are usually contingent on environmental, economic and social factors. Hitherto career paths and development were structured by organizations, which were fundamentally a linear progression through the career stages ( Arthur & Rousseau, 2001 ). Earlier, employee success was defined by promotions, allowances, increments and job stability. Traditionally, organizational careers have been conceptualized as linear trajectories where employees progress in their careers in a linear hierarchical structure within the organization. This lifespan development model, which contrasts the “boundaryless career” model, discusses steady states and linear careers marked by a common work role for life and upward mobility ( Arthur & Rousseau, 2001 ; Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003 ; Marler, Woodard Barringer, & Milkovich, 2002 ; Miller & Form, 1951 ). Given today's fast-paced and volatile organizational environment, scholars are beginning to put together new career development models and theories that explain the dynamic and changing nature of careers in diverse sectors, including the T&H sector.

There has been considerable vitality evident in career development research in the past 40 years. At its inception, Bandura (1986) paved the way by expanding his research on the Social Learning Theory (SLT) to Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). The SCT posits that employees (for example, individuals in the T&H sector) learn through a social complex environment with a dynamic and reciprocal interaction of the individual, environment and behavior. The theory lays emphasis on social influence and its accompanying internal and external social reinforcements. Previous fundamental and related theories have been refined and reconceptualized, and expanded ( Holland, 1985 ; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ; Super, 1980 ). As a result, several novel theoretical perspectives have been introduced ( Hackett, Lent, & Greenhaus, 1991 ). The SCCT, an extension of the SCT in the context of career development, helps to “(a) bring together conceptually related constructs (e.g. self-concept, self-efficacy), (b) more fully explain outcomes that are common to a number of career theories (e.g. satisfaction, stability), and (c) account for the relations among seemingly diverse constructs (e.g. self-efficacy, interests, abilities, needs)” ( Hackett & Lent, 1992 , p. 443).

The SCT is predominantly hinged on the concept of triadic reciprocity. In this model, (1) observable behavior or responses depicted in the forms of actions; (2) personal attributes and physical attributes; and (3) external environment, all work together as interlocking mechanisms that affect each other bidirectionally ( Bandura, 1986 ). Personal attributes in the SCT are linked with a variety of self-reflective, vicarious, self-regulatory and cognitive processes ( Bandura, 1986 ). Each of these mechanisms are assumed to play a vital role in guiding psychosocial functioning, but goal representations, outcome expectations and self-efficacy beliefs are particularly important in the SCCT. The SCCT of career development focuses heavily on the mechanism of personal agency (i.e. self-efficacy appraisals). Self-efficacy refers to “people's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances” ( Bandura, 1986 , p. 391). Specifically, self-efficacy percepts are considered to be responsible for a person's emotional reactions, choice of activities, choice of environment, thought patterns, expenditure and career paths. These personal attributes or beliefs are dynamic, not static, and may be context specific. Together, person, behavior and context , affect each other bidirectionally in the SCCT of career development ( Hackett & Lent, 1992 ).

Individuals’ environment exposes them to different activities and career paths from childhood to adolescence. These observed experiences expose them to various organizational tasks. Apart from the exposure from this environment, they are differentially strengthened to pursue certain selected activities in which they may excel, thereby receiving the appropriate reward. In other words, people pick career choices in which they view themselves as most efficacious ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ). In the context of the T&H industry, career options are selected by people based on their self-efficacy, particularly personal behavior or traits they exhibit, and the environment in which they find themselves. The application of the SCCT in the T&H sector influences our thoughts in three ways:

First, the T&H job environment is largely influenced by the national career paths available to people. This is because people find it easier applying and selecting jobs that are within their competency areas once the national career pathway has predefined roles. The national career pathways consequently influence individual choice. For example, a room attendant who understands the various career paths available to him/her may develop interest and work (through education and training) toward becoming an interior décor designer. Second, outcome expectations – an attribute of self-efficacy, may be enhanced when individuals are subjected to training in specific career pathways. Once individuals are taken through job specific trainings, they develop more realistic expectations concerning the prediction of their next job or promotion. This systematic approach to expectation enhances self-efficacy of employees who, in turn, grow more confident in the respective job roles, which translates into better performance. Third, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study attempts to apply the theory to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity (person, behavior and context) . The national career pathway presents a unique opportunity to understand how unique individuals reach specific career contexts, considering the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute a particular course of action required to achieve the desired work outcomes in the T&H sector.

Career progression in tourism and hospitality

The existing literature ( Amissah, Mensah, Mensah, & Gamor, 2020 ; Armoo & Neequaye, 2014 ; DeMicco & Forgia, 2020 ; McGinley & Martinez, 2018 ; Murry et al. , 2017 ; Kim, Chun, & Petrick, 2009 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ; Weber & Ladkin, 2008 ) has indicated the importance of career progression as a catalyst for human development in the T&H industry. Tolkach and Tung (2019) noted that the industry depends on recruitment and employee career progression. This is also considered relevant in human capital development. Usually, workers are optimistic about career progression in their lifetime. Sheu et al. (2010) examine the significant role employees' choice goal plays in the social cognitive career theory context. It was found that choice goal significantly explains self-efficacy and outcome expectations of employees. This finding provides the understanding that people develop goals to pursue academic and career relevant programs that are in-line with their interest, as well as their self-efficacy and outcome expectation. From the organization's point of view, the provision of career progression pathways offers opportunities for employees to have a clear direction and become managers of their own career paths, and motivates them to work hard in achieving higher positions. In addition, clear and concise career pathways may enable employees to choose a path that correlates with their interest and abilities or realign their career path. Using data from the Ghanaian T&H sector, Armoo and Neequaye (2014) found that industry–person congeniality, social benefit factors, opportunity for professional development and job competitiveness were crucial in determining Ghanaian students' choice of career options. This finding referenced that occupational development is a significant factor in explaining choice of career options in the T&H sector. On the other hand, the career literature has indicated some related human resource management elements such as employee competency behavior, employee bonding, citizenship behavior, career decisions and how they affect career progression ( Amissah et al. , 2020 ; Chang & Tse, 2015 ). Yoganathan, Osburg and Bartikowski's (2021) study on employee competency in the tourism sector established that social media competency increases bonding. Competency helps employees to build better and broader connection with others, which enhances bonding in the workplace. This signifies that when bonding exists in an organization, workers are more likely to protect and defend their organizational reputation. In addition, Shehawy (2017) investigated how the tourism education process, tourism employability and job competitiveness using the Egyptian tourism data. The findings showed that there are significant relationships that exist between tourism learning outcome and other indicators (tourism curriculum mapping, design measurements and employability competitiveness). Earlier studies (See: Hall, 2011 ; Voight & Laing, 2010 ) have also identified the importance of fertility and reproductive tourism, which are directly connected to productivity of the labor. The recent study of Elbaz, Mathew, Maher, Onjewu and Shehawy (2021) on motherhood fertility found that motherhood desire has a positive influence on attitude, subjective norm and female tourists' revisit intentions and actual behavior. Again, it is important to note that fertility exerts a negative influence on workforce participation when women have a newborn baby. This has a decreased effect on workforce participation for women who have just become mothers, which has implications for female workers' careers in the T&H sector.

The recent literature defined career progression pathways as a sequence of positions, which might be occupied by workers from the junior to the senior level in any given organization ( Gebbels, 2019 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ). In the context of this research, the career progression pathway is contextualized as a step-by-step development of employees' career stages, from a lower to a higher rank in T&H organizations or between organizations with similar professions or specialization. This study's definition highlights the fact that the concept of career progression in the T&H study context implies employees will remain at the same job position or make a calculated effort to move up the occupational ladder. O'Leary and Deegan (2005) , using data from the career progression of Irish T&H context, found that there is a significant dropout of workers in the T&H sector due to poor remuneration and unfavorable working hours. Similarly, Hakim's (2020) study provided evidence that career development significantly influenced organizational commitment of employees in the tourism sector. The above empirical findings emphasize the importance of career progression in the T&H industry as a catalyst for the sector's development.

Research is still lacking in developing a national career progression pathway for the T&H workforce within the Ghanaian perspective. Hence, it is opportune to conduct a comprehensive career progression pathway assessment, and map occupations and their respective job titles for the Ghanaian T&H sector, which has been neglected in the career progression literature. In all, we present a literature matrix (see: Table 1 ), which demonstrates how extant studies have investigated career progression in different research contexts.

Research methodology

The focus of this study was to gather primary qualitative data from policymakers, T&H trade related associations, training providers and beneficiaries (T&H businesses). Note that the training providers were selected across the entire country while policymakers, trade associations and beneficiaries were selected in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. We used the purposive sampling method to select the participants to answer questions relating to the national framework that regulates T&H jobs including technical and vocational jobs, qualification requirements or guidelines and possible career progression. In all, this study used in-depth interviews of 33 industry stakeholders (interviewees) out of the 35 participants sampled earlier through face-to-face and telephone interviews to collect data that focused on unearthing the T&H occupations (existing, declining and emerging) and job titles, and further developed occupational pathways’ progression taking into consideration all the “eight-levels” of the NTVETQF (See: Figure 1 ). We followed the recommendation of Saunders et al. (2018) to use the strategy gathering rich (quality) and thick (quantitative) data to achieve data saturation and rigor. The sample size of 33 was determined by achieving data saturation, and there was an agreement between the researchers to halt recruiting more interviewees. Table 2 shows the detailed sampled summary of the number of interviewees used for this study and their respective institutions. Purposively, this study interviewed participants from the above institutions on the basis of their deep understanding of the industry.

In this study, the job title is regarded as a rank or position of an employee, while occupation is the task or core function performed by an employee. Following Creswell's (2014) definition, an in-depth interview is a technique designed to elicit information from an interviewee's perspective on a research topic. The key industry players or stakeholders interviewed for this study were categorized into four groups based on the final outcome of the study where a comprehensive career progression pathway was to be mapped in consultation with the industry players. The categories include policymakers (government ministries, departments and agencies), employer and trade associations (members of Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF)), training providers (hotel, tourism and catering training institutes, master craft persons and other relevant training institutions) and beneficiary partners (selected small, medium and large size tourism and hospitality companies/businesses).

In order to explore the research objectives in a consistent manner, the researchers developed a comprehensive interview guide including probing questions based on the three specific objectives proposed by the funding partners of the project, namely existing, declining and emerging jobs; entry qualifications; and possible career pathways development. All the participants responded to Question 1 to 6, and the remaining questions were stakeholder specific (see A ppendix ). First, the researchers presented a draft of the research instruments for this study to the industry players at a workshop where comments and suggestions were provided. Secondly, the revised questions were scrutinized by four tourism and hospitality experts from industry and academia appointed by the funding partners of the project.

Each participant was interviewed in English language by the researchers at an agreed location most convenient (e.g. offices and homes) for the interviewee. The interviews were conducted between October 9 and 16, 2020, using digital recorders, allowing for a word-by-word transcription of each interview that lasted approximately 40–65 minutes. A follow-up was done by phone for clarifications and more information when necessary. The transcriptions were analyzed using the qualitative content analysis to examine patterns in the occupations identified in the industry. We followed the recommendations made in the existing literature ( Mayring, 2000 ; Schreier, 2012 ) to conduct the content analysis for this study. First, we read the transcriptions over and over for content familiarity, keeping in mind the specific objectives of the study. Second, with the help of NVivo 12, we separately employed “in vivo coding”, which allows the researchers to derive codes from the actual words of the interviewees in the data itself. This form of coding is useful when the researcher interacts with the interviewees on particular issues. For example, we were interested in specific jobs and job titles in the Ghanaian T&H sector. Interestingly, the researchers individually coded the data in order to check whether we have obtained the same conclusions after reviewing the same data. This guarantees data validation, credibility, dependability and confirmability, which are considered as strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research ( Lazaraton, 2017 ; Shenton, 2004 ). Third, the identified codes were processed into three specific categories such as existing occupation, declining occupation and emerging occupation. Finally, the categories were developed into the three main themes: information technology jobs, environmental jobs and job titles.

This study adhered to the COVID-19 protocols in the data collection stages. The COVID-19 protocols of social distancing of at least two meters apart, use of a face mask, avoidance of handshakes, hand washing and use of hand sanitizers as recommended by the World Health Organization ( WHO, 2020 ) were observed during the entire period of the field research. The sample comprised 23 males (69.7%) and 10 females (30.3%). Averagely, all the interviewees had working experience in the industry of ten years and above. In all, the findings and the proposed national career pathways were validated at a workshop based on the inputs received from key stakeholders such as the employers and employees of the sector.

The findings revealed six subsectors within the Ghanaian T&H sector, proposed as “travel and tour”, “lodging”, “catering”, “events”, “education and training” and “arts and culture”, which were useful in mapping occupations and their respective job titles. Tables 3–8 showed occupations and job titles plotted according to the “eight levels” qualification framework (minimum to maximum levels), which responded specifically to Objective 2 of this study (entry level requirement of occupations associated with the T&H sector). Table 9 presented the national career progression pathways for the sector, which specifically addressed Objective 3. In summary, the key findings of the study revealed that “watchman” ( Table 5 ) was found to be the only declining job in the Ghanaian T&H sector; whereas the emerging jobs were website designers, digital marketers, data analysts, hygienists, and safety and hazard experts, which were labeled in red texts in Tables 3–8 .

I don't think there is anything like that […]

Training provider

[…] not really. What I remember is the new Ghana Tourism Authority law, which I think made a provision that managers should be licensed; even that one has not seen light of the day.

Trade association

At the moment I will say “Yes” and “No”, because we have National Hospitality Act, which helps to set up a hospitality and build the capacity of employees. However, most hospitality companies in Ghana operate as private individuals, and the career progression in the public sector cannot be aligned with what they have.

Policymaker

Declining or emerging occupations and job titles

Correspondingly, the result of the first objective showed the declining and emerging jobs and titles.

I can see one emerging job “hospitality accountants”. Like hospitality accounting, which has not been popularized in our part of the world. Mostly, we use “financial accountants” to support the sector. Our institutions should train more “hospitality accountants” who will be able to manage the sector effectively. […] one of the declining job titles in this country now is “watchman” which literally means keep an eye on something for me. Sophisticated devices like CCTV and security gadgets have taken over their job.

Mostly, the foreign hospitality firms come to work in Ghana with their chefs who are specialized in the international or continental foods. They only employ our local chefs when they are engaging in local foods which serve local consumers and some international tourists. Usually, these occupations “sommelier”, and “executive chef” are not available in our labor market. This is because our higher institutions do not have programs for these specializations. For example, if you examine how people become chefs, most of the chef started like a steward or cleaner or gardener in the industry after completion of secondary schools. Then, they developed later the passion to be cooks and become chefs as they get the opportunity to progress.

Entry level requirements for the jobs and possible pathways in the T&H sector

On our beaches you can find people parading themselves as they help people who are drowning. They have learnt swimming informally and they help people at the beach. Some people called them local informal rescuers.

Beneficiary

We have the reservation agent who deals with ticketing and making travelling arrangement for tourists to travel to their destinations […] tour operator will put the tour package in terms of transportation and other logistics in place. In my organization I employ data analyst , who manages customers' data and other data related issues. It is seen as one of the emerging occupations that the industry cannot avoid if we want to be competitive. We must always analyze our markets' characteristics in order to plan and develop business strategies as well.

We are looking for food, beverage and sanitation officers as well as a Chef. I know they have various ranks of Chefs from executive Chef to the head Chef . Nowadays, you can also have pastry Chef, who specializes in pastry.

Trade Associations

[…] room attendant, cook, security, kitchen porters , waiters and waitresses usually consist of workers in the lower class in the Ghanaian labor market. Some people also see the cashiers as part of the restaurant service and the front officer in the reception. We also have the purchasing officers, store keepers, marketers as well as sales person who markets the tour packages to tourists. We are seeing demand for web designers and digital marketers as the industry strives hard to promote Ghana's T&H to the outside world on the social media and other digital platforms.

[…] if you go to other countries, they have specific courses for people to become bartenders . Bartenders in Ghana don't have any qualification before they begin to practice. They just enter as trainers and later they develop the passion to be bartenders.

Beneficiaries

Discussions of findings

To understand the career pathways’ progression, this research investigated the declining and emerging jobs and job titles and their respective entry level requirements in the T&H sector. Findings revealed that there are clear occupational paths available to all categories of workers in the six subsectors to progress in their choice of occupations. According to the SCCT, self-efficacy outlines the employee's capability to organize and attain the highest career paths. Further, the theory emphasizes that employees will pick a career path for which they view themselves as most efficacious ( Lent et al. , 1994 ). Interestingly, the possible career pathways accommodated diversification or realignment of occupations in the sector. For example, within the arts and culture subsector, woodcarver of Level 3 can diversify or realign an occupation after acquiring some level of training and formal education and become an assistant fashion designer or a sales trainee in Level 4 and progress to Level 6 to become a fashion designer, manager, sales manager or customer relationship manager. This pathway is possible because the individual, through training, develops a self-efficacy trademark such as positive attitudes, abilities and cognitive skills that boosts one's self confidence to make great strides in the job market.

Noticeably, the sector's career pathways’ progression is envisioned on some key emerging occupational areas: safety and security; technology adoption; and hygiene (environmental occupations). The findings on technology strengthens the understanding of how Ghanaian T&H businesses have gradually started deploying the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) within the field of robotics, which is regarded as one of the most exciting and promising applications for individuals and businesses operating within T&H. For example, providing the chatbots’ services that allow a hotel or travel company to provide 24/7 support through online chat or instant messaging services, even when their staff are not available. Analytically, the findings on technology, security, safety and hygiene imply that these findings are in line with UNWTO (2003) initiatives for nations to develop a national policy to safeguard tourists against risk and hygiene related matters such as crime, sexual assault, terrorism, food safety and hygiene. Furthermore, this shows that Ghana, a country ranked as the 115th of 136 tourism destinations in the world, is adhering to and aligning career paths that cover security and hygiene issues addressed in the UNWTO developmental plans for the T&H sector. In addition, the emerging technology supported occupations and job titles also demonstrated the level at which technology-oriented occupations have been responded to in the Ghanaian career pathways progression of the T&H sector. This signifies that the Ghanaian T&H sector is conforming to the best practices in the world T&H space. Furthermore, this study's finding highlighted Ghana's acceptance of various technology adoption measures supported by legislation such as the Electronic Transaction Act (Act 772 of 2008), National Information Technology Agency Act (Act 771 of 2008) and Data Protection Act (Act 843 of 2012) to protect and ensure quality service provision in the sector. This provides evidence of Ghana's preparedness in supporting the innovation technology that will benefit the T&H sector. The T&H sector depends on the Internet as one of the technological ways tourists can access the needed information related to online traveling sites, booking, photo check out, price comparison for vacations and e-transactions. Added to this, Ghana's Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All (2017–2024) of the Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies emphasized the transformation of the T&H sector through investment in innovation technology and job creation for excellent e-service to tourists such as websites, e-check-in and online booking.

The finding on the declining job and job title “watchman” reaffirmed that security related matters have become complex and the roles of “watchman” have been expanded to cater for the safety and security need driven for the sector. Ten years ago, the role of “watchman” in context was to watch over a property or premise at night when the owners or occupants are asleep. Today, the direction of crime has changed, given that there is daylight robbing, kidnapping, property theft, mugging, armed robbery, as well as terrorism acts evidenced in the sector. Previous studies in context have evidenced how tourists feel unsafe at some destination sites ( Boakye, 2010 ; Poku & Boakye, 2019 ; Preko, 2020a , 2020b ). It is also important to note that during the COVID-19 pandemic, security personnel have had an add-on function of checking the temperature of tourists, and ensuring the strict adherence of the COVID-19 protocols on site. This signifies that the security personnel job description has been expanded to include safeguarding the health and safety of tourists at sites. This observation is similar to the findings of Cheung, Takashima, Choi, Yang and Tung (2021) , where they investigated the impact of COVID-19 on psychological needs of tourists using the existence, related and growth theory. Their findings reinforce the importance of safety and security during COVID-19. This provides a signal that advances the understanding on how safety and security personnel and their careers can strategically be defined to manage any given situation in the sector.

Conclusion and implications

In conclusion, the current study revealed one declining job and 12 emerging jobs, mostly in the security, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations; and developed national career pathways for the sector. Strategically, these results suggest that Ghana is on course in developing career paths that incorporate key components of the tourism and hospitality agenda of the UNTWO advocacy in the areas of safety, security, hygiene and deployment of technologies in the sector. This will position the country to compete effectively with other tourism nations worldwide. It was also found that the possible career paths developed make provision for diversification and realignment of occupations in the sector, which serves as a motivational factor to all employees who aspire to choose occupational paths with high social status, and promising and rewarding careers within the sector. Indeed, the results of this study have extended the national understanding of career progression, which has not been examined earlier in the T&H sector in context. The current study makes significant contributions that fill gaps in the extant tourism career literature. First, this is the first study in context that comprehensively examines declining and emerging jobs and job titles in the T&H sector. Second, the research provides vocational insights in mapping the entry level requirements for the jobs allied with occupations in the NTVETQF of Ghana at the national level. Third, findings from this research differ from earlier career research of Amissah et al. (2020) , who found perceptions toward the careers in the sector unfavorable in terms of the knowledge transfer skills, employee exposure to other career avenues and the offer of good promotion prospects using tourism students' data in context. Fourth, this study extends tourism studies ( Armoo & Neequaye, 2014 ; Kim et al. , 2009 ; Murry et al. , 2017 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ) on career paths within the literature by using first-hand qualitative data from the key industry stakeholders. Fifth, this study has addressed the lack of national career pathways progression in accordance with the NTVETQF based on the six identified subsectors of the T&H sector, which will help to overcome the challenges of upgrading from the lower to higher ranks in the sector.

Practically, this study's findings provide learning opportunities for HR managers and general managers to develop specific HR policies and practices regarding recruitment, education, talent management and career progression management that will boost employee self-efficacy in the sector. It is important for the HR practitioners and managers in the sector to conduct periodic trainings, workshops, conferences, seminars and open fora on career progressions’ awareness matters for the T&H employees in order to increase their knowledge on the subject matter. Again, the T&H sector and its allied institutions should employ both hard and soft media (e.g. newspapers, television programs, brochures, websites etc.) in the dissemination of information about employee career progressions to ensure a continuous increase of knowledge on career pathways’ subjects. At the national level, the entry level for T&H occupations and career mapping for the T&H may now be adopted for use in the T&H industry. The career mapping for the T&H serves as a standardized career progression pathway that may guide T&H practitioners and administrators on job placement and promotion, to solve the practical knowledge gap of career misalignment in the T&H industry. Strategically, T&H businesses should embrace the significant role played by robotics and AI in order to develop the sector by deploying a variety of technologies, including collision detection, Wi-Fi and AI to navigate hotels and provide services. For industry practitioners, one practical implication is the valuable signal for the growing number of jobs in security services, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, including practitioners, HR directors and general managers, should respond timely to these growing needs in order to remain competitive in the sector. In addition, the findings inform HR managers, other practitioners and business owners about the need to pay attention to the entry level requirements for each occupation and apply them to useful ends accordingly. At a glance, the results reveal that only “watchman” occupation and job title was identified as a declining job. It is important to inform HR managers and general managers that they should always be up-to-date in looking out for jobs that might need training and re-qualification in their respective organizations. This strategy might be treasured in developing new skills needed for the sector. The finding of scarcity of some key professions or skills such as “hospitality accountant”, “sommelier” and “executive chef” in the sector implies that T&H managers and businesses, including HR managers, can make recommendations to the higher learning institutions to prepare these skills for the sector. This will encourage businesses in the T&H sector to begin engaging the services of Ghanaian workers to occupy these key positions in the sector. Again, the findings suggest to HR managers that organizational structure, design, culture and process should simultaneously create work-based learning for Ghanaian employees to acquire the skills that are a scarcity for the sector. Scholars have widely acknowledged that a structured and diversified career path progression offers employees mobility within the sector, which then motivates employees to work hard in achieving higher positions ( Gebbels, 2019 ; Kim et al. , 2009 ; O'Leary & Deegan, 2005 ; Tolkach & Tung, 2019 ). This research supports these viewpoints and further recommends that managers should consider providing working conditions that will boost employee self-efficacy to work harder to migrate from the lower to the higher positions in the industry. Practically, the study identified six subsectors in the T&H industry, namely: “travel and tour”, “lodging”, “catering”, “events”, “education and training” and “arts and culture”. Educational institutions could take a cue from this and develop courses and programs to fill the skills gaps in the sector. The recommendations provided in this study are not country specific but similar geographic settings can adopt some of the suggestions when necessary.

Our study furthermore contributes to the SCCT in three ways: First, the T&H ecosystem is largely influenced by the national career paths available to the people. As such, the SCCT inherently supports a national career path ecosystem that opens up career pathways to individual actors in the T&H sector. This opportunity helps individual actors or employees to organize and accomplish the highest career progression possible in the industry. Secondly, it is envisaged that individual actors in the T&H will work and progress with aplomb when the individual is taken through on-the-job training and education. In other words, the SCCT theory improves our understanding of how individual actors or employees in the T&H sector progress through the ranks on the back of an important outcome expectation of the SCCT – “self-efficacy”. Lastly, the SCCT has been used extensively at the personal and organizational levels. This study is the first to apply the SCCT to a national career pathway to fully harness the triadic reciprocity.

Limitations and area for future studies

In all, the findings of this study cannot be overlooked because, significantly, this is the first study in context that responds timely to the development of a national career progression, although there are some limitations. This research has the inherent limitations of a qualitative study that discourages the results to be generalized due to the lack of randomness in the selection and statistical representation of interviews although the qualitative approach is perhaps one of the best approaches to gathering unique insights from the industry. Further studies should investigate how HR managers, practitioners, employers and other stakeholders in the sector are applying and complying with the national career paths and provide recommendations for updates that will see continuous relevance of the career path document to the sector, as well as furthering investigations into the applications of robotics and AI in the sector. For future study directions, researchers should consider gathering quantitative data from employees of the sector regarding the applicability of the developed career path based on their choice, attitudes and viewpoints that can be gathered through different engagements such as workshops, seminars, conferences and open fora, etc.

National TVET qualifications framework

Compilations of the relevant literature used for this study

Number of interviewees sampled

Entry level requirement for lodging related occupations

Entry level requirement for the catering related occupations

Entry level requirement for events related occupations

Entry level requirement for education and training related occupations

Entry level requirement for arts and culture related occupations

Tourism and hospitality career pathway map

Appendix Research instruments

What is the specific regulatory document that defined career progression in the tourism and hospitality sector?

Is it a regulatory framework for only tourism or hospitality or for both tourism and hospitality?

Does the regulatory framework identify and describe all existing jobs including job titles, duration, entry requirements in the sector?

Does the regulatory framework define the opportunities for possible progression from the lower to higher qualifications with the respective jobs?

Are these occupations in the sector documented with their titles and job descriptions?

Are there any emerging or declining jobs in the tourism sector that should be titled and defined for the industry?

Are there any emerging or declining jobs in the hospitality sector that should be titled and defined for the industry?

Does the career path map the possible pathways for progression from lower to higher qualifications and respective jobs?

What is the minimum entry requirement for jobs in the tourism and hospitality sector?

What are the possible career paths for Proficiency I holders to obtain a bachelor degree in the sector?

What are some of the professions identified in the sector that are aligned to the NTVETQF guidelines?

What are the entry requirements for these qualifications: Proficiency I, II, Certificate I, Higher National Diploma, and Bachelor degree?

What are the further education and training programs on offer to individuals in the technical and vocational occupations to their career pathways?

In what specific ways is the institution preparing occupations in the sector for progression from the lower to higher qualifications and respective jobs?

Are you (employers' association/trade unions) represented on the regulatory body?

What are the tourism and hospitality academic qualifications offered in your institution? ( Training providers )

What programs of education and training do you provide for your employees? ( Beneficiary institutions )

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Zhou , G. ( 2000 ). When will the embarrassed hotel management graduates become unembarrassed . North Economy and Trade , 203 , 158 – 160 .

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the ILO team: Ms. Vanessa L. Phala (ILO Country Director for Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Liaison for ECOWAS), Ms. IIca Webster (ILO Senior Skills Specialist for West Africa), Mr. Adetor Frank Kwasi (National Project Coordinator-ILO SKILL UP Ghana Component) and Mrs Elsie Amo (Project Administrative Officer-ILO SKILL UP Ghana Component); SSB team: Dr. Eunice Amissah (Chairperson), Mr. Kwesi Eyison, (Vice Chairperson), Dr. Adelaide Mensah-Kuffour (Secretary), Mrs. Bella Ehu (President of GHATOF), and Mr. Emmanuel Frimpong (Executive Secretary of GHATOF) and Tourism & Hospitality Sector Skills Body members and the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments from which the present paper greatly improved. The authors give special thanks to CTVET: Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah (Director General-CTVET), Mr. Theophilus Tetteh Zogblah (Coordinator-CTVET), and Ms. Edith Adotey (Program Officer-CTEVT), Data Collection/Interviews- Mrs. Egi Gaise. Any remaining errors or deficiencies are solely the authors’ responsibility.

Corresponding author

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Director of External Affairs

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June 27, 2024

JOB DESCRIPTION

Position Summary

The Director of External Affairs is a critical strategic leader at Visit California. This role is charged with executing a global public affairs program aimed at promoting the relevance of California’s tourism industry, mitigating direct threats to the organization and industry and developing long-term strategies to ensure the longevity and preservation of the tourism industry, as well as California’s vital economic, environmental and cultural resources. This role supports the organization’s efforts to build and maintain strong relationships with the California Legislature and local elected officials, along with building coalitions with external stakeholders and advocacy groups representing the travel industry’s interests, as well as adjacent issues that affect the industry. This position requires a strategic thinker, effective communicator and relationship building, who can navigate the complex landscape of the tourism industry, as well as national, state, and local political environments, while providing oversight of public affairs agencies and Visit California staff who execute public affairs strategies. 

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Key Duties & Responsibilities:  

20% Government Relations Monitor legislative and regulatory developments at the national, state and local levels that may impact the tourism industry.    Facilitate outreach to elected officials and key opinion leaders to preserve Visit California’s position as the state’s authority on all matters related to the travel and tourism industry and economy. Continuously keep senior leadership briefed on policy developments and media coverage.

Identify opportunities to engage with government officials, agencies, and staffers to educate them on the industry’s role in creating jobs and boosting local economies, as well as Visit California’s organizational approach and priorities. Keep a steady stream of communications to key leadership to ensure the development of tourism champions. 

20% Stakeholder Engagement Identify, establish, and nurture relationships with key external stakeholders, including government agencies, tourism businesses, destination marketing organizations and community advocates.

Build broad coalitions in support of tourism-related initiatives, leveraging communications channels and other opportunities to reach new audiences.

Lead campaigns around California Tourism Month, National Plan for Vacation Day and other initiatives that serve as both industry platforms and engagement opportunities with key audiences.

20% Stewardship Strategist  Lead development of new programs that assist the California tourism ecosystem in building resilience and planning sustainability-focused futures.

Consult with stakeholders on ongoing issues and opportunities within the tourism industry related to conservation, resources management, responsible travel, etc.

15% Messaging Development & Internal Consultation Advise on consumer and B2B marketing strategies to leverage messaging opportunities to mitigate potential narrative pitfalls. 

Annually develop strategies for deployment of statewide economic impact research and messaging partnering organizations use to engage with communities, elected officials and other important stakeholders.

10% Media Relations Build Visit California’s relationships with top-tier media, and implement a comprehensive media strategy to enhance Visit California’s visibility, brand relevance and favorable share of voice. 

Draft correspondence and media messages to meet outreach needs at the request of the President/CEO, Vice Presidents and senior staff members.

Manage press relations for executives and senior staff.

5% Crisis Communications Support Manage aspects of crisis communications, including developing consumer-facing content, overseeing crisis tracking tools, briefing staff, interactions with industry partners and making ongoing updates to Crisis Communications plans.

5% Program Administration & Reporting Manage external teams and projects related to public affairs programs, including key agencies. Effectively communicate the organization’s advocacy efforts and successes to the key audiences, including the board of directors, investors, public and media.

5% Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE

Refer to descriptions above for qualifications. 

SALARY / COMPENSATION

In addition to a competitive salary, Visit California offers an excellent health benefit package.  We also offer a fantastic PTO and holiday leave package, 401(k) plan, job-specific skill training, employee discount network, employee assistance program (EAP), gym access, parking, hybrid work environment, and much more!

HOW TO APPLY

Please send your cover letter, resume, two writing samples, and salary requirements via e-mail to Visit California Jobs .

Visit California has an organizational commitment to the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. In that spirit, we welcome all qualified individuals without regard to race, religion, color, sex, ancestry, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, national origin, medical condition, U.S. veteran/military status, pregnancy, or reasonable accommodation.

Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management (B.S.)

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The mission of the hospitality, tourism and event management program is to develop visionary leaders and successful professionals in the hospitality, tourism and event industry. The program provides a comprehensive and challenging curriculum that includes courses in general education, business, hospitality, tourism and event management, combined with relevant operational and management experience under the supervision and guidance of industry professionals and program faculty.

At the conclusion of the program, students will be able to:

• Identify and apply the knowledge and skills necessary for hospitality and tourism operations.
• Develop and integrate a core set of business skills necessary to successfully operate a hospitality and tourism organization.
• Demonstrate competence in the communication skills necessary for hospitality and tourism management.
• Formulate business decisions in hospitality and tourism management.
• Evaluate leadership principles necessary in the diverse and global hospitality and tourism industry.

With a Bachelor of Science in hospitality, tourism and event management from South Dakota State University, the hospitality, tourism and event industry is yours to conquer. We are dedicated to making the hospitality, tourism and event management program at SDSU one of the leading professional management-related programs in the Midwest.

Since Winter of 2016, the hospitality, tourism and event management program has held professional accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration (ACPHA) for its educational quality and for upholding nationally recognized standards in the hospitality profession.

The hospitality, tourism and event management program had a 50% retention rate for the 2020-2021 academic year, and 75% of our students were employed in the hospitality industry or a related field upon graduation and 25% of our students were continuing their education. In the academic years of 2019-2020, 2018-2019 and 2017-18, retention rates were 100%, 71.4% and 57.1% respectively. While the hospitality industry continued to have jobs available in the hospitality field for any student searching, students in hospitality, tourism and event management learn numerous transferrable skills and are sought-after for, and excel in, positions in a wide variety of industries. Given that, 94.12% and 88% of our students were employed in the hospitality industry or related field in 2019-2020 and 2018-2019 respectively. In 2017-18, 13.33% of our students were continuing their education and 66.67% were employed in the hospitality industry or a related field.

Program Overview

This specialized business degree prepares you for leadership roles in the dynamic, service-oriented hospitality industry. Traditional business courses in accounting, economics and law are complemented by hospitality marketing, meeting/event management, lodging management, hospitality facilities management, food and beverage management and international tourism. All of these courses help to give you a solid foundation required for any number of hospitality specialties.

Some of the many areas you can focus your career within hospitality management:

• Bar and beverage management
• Casino management
• Club management
• Cruise management
• Event management
• Hotel management
• Resort management
• Restaurant management
• Tourism management
• Venue management
• Sport coordinator
• Healthcare hospitality

We stress experiential learning in our program. If you plan to successfully lead, manage or direct others in the industry you must have industry experience. Our goal is for each of our graduates to be qualified for an intro-level management job (or management training position) upon graduation. As former managers in the hospitality industry we realize that gaining industry experience is an important part of our degree requirement.

All undergraduates must complete two internships, accumulating more than 500 hours of work experience in two distinct areas of hospitality. These two experiences provide a great opportunity to explore different and unique facets of the industry, and to expand your knowledge and discover your ideal career path. Whether on campus or off campus, part time or full time, job or internship, you can choose the work experience that best suits your schedule and interests.

With this degree in hand, you'll have a wealth of career options both in South Dakota and throughout the United States and will be well-prepared for post-graduate studies if you choose to continue your education. Additionally, our faculty brings significant industry experience to the classroom, adding a unique dimension that you just won't find with a general business education.

Special Events

Throughout the fall/spring, students participate in learning experiences with the hospitality club and in their courses. Some of the upcoming experiences that students will be participating in:

• Hospitality Management Career Fair
• South Dakota Governor’s Conference on Tourism
• Prostart Competition

Additional Information

• Program Details (Curricular Offerings and Course Descriptions)
• Wagner Cafe
• Hospitality Management Club

Meet the Faculty and Staff

Kunsoon Park

Associate Professor

Julie Tkach

Lecturer, Hospitality Management

Nashville tourism leaders unveiled a new strategic vision. How it could change downtown

Nashville's tourism industry could soon look quite different thanks to a newly proposed plan from the city's tourism leaders.

"The Music City Strategic Plan," released on Thursday and co-chaired by Deana Ivey of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp . and Colin Reed of Ryman Hospitality Properties , outlines industry changes, improvements and other recommendations that aim to successfully spearhead Nashville as an industry leader in the upcoming years.

For example, the report proposes relocating two of the city's biggest annual attractions , "Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th" and "Nashville's Big Bash New Year's Eve" to the East Bank, the future home of the new and improved Nissan Stadium . Other proposed relocations include the Live on the Green music festival, the Nashville Hot Chicken Festival and Oktoberfest. Additionally, the city is eyeing hosting the Grammy Awards and a Super Bowl .

According to the report, the number of visitors in Davidson County has grown steadily in recent years. In 2018, 12,603,962 people visited the area. In 2023, that figure increased by nearly 3 million. But while the city has reaped the cultural and financial benefits of hundreds of thousands of tourists descending upon the city annually, Nashville and its locals have also had to deal with accompanying crime and safety concerns .

"We have a great destination, but we also need to take care of it," said Deana Ivey, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. "And we want to make sure that growth continues. The plan is our roadmap to tell us what we need to take care of."

Mayor Freddie O'Connell praised the extensive study by tourism leaders.

"I’m grateful to everyone who put work into this strategic guide because we know tourism is a critical piece of our economy, and this work helps Nashville put its best foot forward for residents and visitors alike," O'Connell said.

Here are the plan's eight priorities.

Improving the experience and reputation of Downtown Nashville

The report pinpoints overconsumption, overcrowding, and noise pollution as a threat to Nashville's reputation as a "warm, welcoming city." Recent efforts to mitigate the concerns include improving Downtown lighting, installing surveillance cameras, implementing a rigorous cleaning schedule and more.

Ongoing efforts include:

• Refining the right-of-way vending ordinance to improve the pedestrian experience on the street.
• Advocating for a dedicated noise enforcement unit to ensure compliance with existing noise ordinances for buildings, vehicles, and vendors on private property.
• Activating Downtown Parks in a way that best serves residents and guests with a focus on local engagement.
• Explore implementing a Street Performer Program that permits live music in dedicated areas to enhance the downtown experience.
• Support private initiatives with downtown establishments to improve bar line management, SAFE Bar Program compliance and scooter and e-bike corrals.

Tourism officials also plan to launch a campaign which promotes the "Nashville way" which would call on bars to enforce better protocols, address raucous behaviour, and encourage other actions which would "help fix what is wrong on Lower Broadway." The campaign targets celebrities with namesake bars as potential partners.

Improving and supporting public safety efforts citywide

Public safety remains the top priority for visitors, read the report. In an effort to prioritize safety and reduce crime, tourism officials proposed allocating local and state resources to the following:

• Increasing the number of MNPD public safety officers.
• Increasing MNPD wages to national levels.
• Curbing disorder Downtown.
• Supporting MNPD in their efforts to reduce gun thefts from vehicles.
• Foster community partnerships with MNPD.

Developing a robust pipeline of job seekers and pushing for transportation improvements

While Nashville's hospitality industry has grown alongside the city, hospitality workers, like most Nashvillians, deal with a lack of affordable housing and public transportation.

Industry leaders plan to address challenges with a three part strategy which includes supporting hospitality workforce development, making affordable housing more available to hospitality workers and increasing the offerings, reach and appeal of public transportation.

Leaders aim to accomplish their goals by standardizing high school hospitality program curricula across Nashville, engaging local college and university hospitality programs to recruit employees and offer on-the-job training opportunities, supporting affordable housing and transportation access on the East Bank, increasing the number of public transportation stops and locations, exploring rideshare and shuttle options and more.

Fostering increased, local support for Nashville's tourism industry

Hospitality is the second largest industry in Nashville and Tennessee, directly employing over 70,000 people. The report states that despite benefits, the industry has had to bear the brunt of many resident's frustrations with the challenges that come along with growth.

Tourism officials propose a campaign highlighting the positive impacts of the industry which would hopefully alleviate those frustrations. Goals of the campaign include broadening the core message of the benefits of tourism, emphasizing personal and emotional connections to hospitality, ensuring messages reach broad and diverse audiences, enlisting diverse communicators to deliver said messages, and communicating across multiple platforms.

A focus on international tourism

More than a national destination, Music City has become an international destination, welcoming visitors from almost every corner of the globe. Tourism leaders aim to make Nashville a more welcoming, inclusive environment by marketing to international visitors and creating a better overall experience.

Officials aim to reach said goals by nurturing relationships with Nashville's sister cities and consulates, increasing direct airlift to and from Nashville International Airport, working together with the Tennessee Department of Tourism, partnering with popular travel apps, providing free Wi-Fi connectivity citywide and more.

Embracing family-friendly programming at the city's newest venues

While Lower Broadway may not be the most family friendly setting after-hours and on weekends, Nashville offers plenty of other family-friendly outings and venues. The East Bank, currently under redevelopment, plans to be a tremendous cultural center and will host multiple events suited for people of all ages.

Tourism officials plan on focusing on the following when evaluating potential new events:

• Creating large, family-friendly outdoor spaces for local and national events.
• Attracting world-class, family-friendly, diverse, and locally appealing events.
• Maximizing the riverfront's potential to offer residents and tourists new recreational opportunities.
• Working with state and local governments to achieve goals.

Marketing Nashville's diverse cultural offerings and developing new cultural assets

Tourism officials recognize that not all Nashville communities have benefited equally from the city's immense growth. In the report, industry leaders vowed to promote broader community participation while expanding offerings to attract diverse visitors and benefit underrepresented communities.

Focus areas include expanding Nashville's offerings to include more diverse music and entertainment events, increasing promotion and mentorship for minority-owned businesses as well as branding and promoting Nashville's culturally diverse communities.

Hospitality leaders to work with Metro and state

Finally, tourism leaders plan to work together with city and state officials to drive meaningful change in a variety of areas, for example economic development and legislative priorities.

By establishing the Music City Local Host Committee , hospitality leaders aim to demonstrate their value to the city. The committee will have the responsibility of attracting major events and raising the funding for the new Nissan Stadium and will also serve as a body of economic counselors to city and state leaders in evaluating critical new development projects or legislative priorities.

Committee leaders include former Governor Bill Haslam, country music artist Eric Church, Chairman of Ingram Industries John Ingram, and others.

Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @_leyvadiana

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Leisure Travel

Travel and tourism in Russia - statistics & facts

Covid-19 impact on russians' travel destinations, impact of the war in ukraine on tourism in russia, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Travel and tourism's total contribution to GDP in Russia 2019-2023

Travel and tourism's total contribution to employment in Russia 2019-2023

Tourism spending in Russia 2019-2022, by travel purpose

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Current statistics on this topic.

Destinations

Leading outbound travel destinations in Russia 2021-2022

Number of outbound tourism trips from Russia 2014-2022

Leading source markets for travel to Russia 2020-2022, by arrivals

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Countries with the highest outbound tourism expenditure worldwide 2019-2023

Countries with the highest outbound tourism expenditure worldwide from 2019 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Distribution of travel industry revenue in Russia in 2022, by segment

Travel and tourism spending in Russia from 2019 to 2022, by purpose (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Total contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) in Russia from 2019 to 2023 (in billion Russian rubles)

Travel and tourism's total contribution to employment in Russia 2019-2023

Total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Russia from 2019 to 2023 (in million jobs)

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• Basic Statistic Outbound travel expenditure in Russia 2011-2022
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Outbound travel expenditure in Russia from 2011 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of outbound tourism trips from Russia from 2014 to 2022 (in 1,000s)

Number of outbound travel visits from Russia from 2021 to 2022, by destination (in 1,000s)

Number of outbound tourists from Russia 2022, by territory

Number of Russians travelling abroad with tourism purposes in 2022, by territory (in 1,000s)

Outbound tourist flow growth in Russia 2022, by destination

Growth in outbound travelers with tourism purposes from Russia in 2022 compared to 2019, by selected destination

European Union (EU) Schengen visas issued in Russia 2010-2023

Number of Schengen Area visas issued from applications to consulates in Russia from 2010 to 2023*

Inbound and domestic tourism

• Basic Statistic International tourism spending in Russia 2011-2022
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Spending of international tourists in Russia from 2011 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Leading inbound tourism markets visiting Russia from 2020 to 2022, by number of trips (in 1,000s)

Domestic travel spending in Russia 2019-2022

Domestic tourism expenditure in Russia from 2019 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of nature protected areas in Russia 2015-2022, by type

Number of nature conservation areas in Russia from 2015 to 2022, by type

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Estimated balance of demand for inbound tourism in Russia from 1st quarter 2014 to 3rd quarter 2023

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Number of inbound tourism visits to Russia from 2014 to 2022 (in 1,000s)

Travel companies

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Number of travel agencies and reservation service establishments in Russia from 2010 to 2022

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Leading travel and tourism websites in Russia in August 2023, by monthly visits (in millions)

Package tours

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Total value of package tours sold in Russia from 2014 to 2022, by tourism type (in billion Russian rubles)

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Number of outbound tourists sent on tours by travel agencies in Russia in 2022, by destination (in 1,000s)

Transportation

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Number of hotel visitors in Russia 2022, by travel purpose

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Average cost of overnight accommodation in Moscow from May 2020 to September 2023 (in euros)

Hotel occupancy rate in Moscow 2023, by segment

Occupancy rate of quality hotels in Moscow from January to March 2023, by segment

Average daily hotel rate in Moscow 2023, by segment

Average daily rate (ADR) in hotels in Moscow from January to March 2023, by segment (in Russian rubles)

Travel behavior

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Attitudes towards traveling in Russia as of March 2023

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Philippines Travel Industry Soars to Unprecedented P5.4 Trillion High

The Philippines has always been a tropical paradise, captivating tourists with its pristine beaches, vibrant festivals, and warm hospitality. However, the travel industry has recently reached new heights, soaring to an unprecedented P5.4 trillion high. This milestone marks a significant achievement for the country’s tourism sector and highlights its growing popularity on the global stage.

Growth Drivers of the Tourism Industry

Several factors have contributed to this remarkable growth:

• Government Initiatives: Strategic government policies and initiatives have played a crucial role in promoting the Philippines as a top tourist destination. Efforts such as the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign have effectively marketed the country to international travelers.
• Improved Infrastructure: Investments in infrastructure, including upgraded airports and better road networks, have enhanced accessibility to remote and lesser-known destinations.
• Diverse Attractions: From the stunning Powdery White Sands of Boracay to the historic Intramuros in Manila, the Philippines offers a range of attractions catering to different interests.
• Ecotourism and Sustainability: Initiatives focusing on ecotourism and sustainable travel have drawn environmentally conscious tourists, eager to explore the Philippines’ natural wonders while minimizing their environmental impact.

These factors have collectively propelled the travel industry to new heights, resulting in a significant economic boost and job creation across various sectors.

Economic Impact and Job Creation

The surge in tourism has had far-reaching economic implications:

Revenue Generation

The P5.4 trillion milestone signifies a substantial increase in revenue, benefitting both the public and private sectors. Enhanced tourist spending has stimulated local economies, leading to the growth of businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops.

Employment Opportunities

The tourism boom has created numerous job opportunities, particularly in regions heavily reliant on tourism. From tour guides to hospitality workers, the industry’s expansion has provided livelihoods for countless Filipinos, reducing unemployment rates and improving living standards.

Investment Stimulus

The influx of tourists has prompted both local and foreign investors to pour capital into the tourism sector. This investment has led to the development of new resorts, attractions, and facilities, further enhancing the Philippines’ appeal as a travel destination.

Top Tourist Destinations

The Philippines boasts an array of breathtaking destinations attracting millions of visitors each year:

Boracay Island

Known for its powdery white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters, Boracay continues to be a top choice for honeymooners, beach lovers, and adventure seekers. Recent rehabilitation efforts have restored its beauty, making it more appealing than ever.

Often dubbed as the “Last Frontier,” Palawan’s pristine landscapes, including the picturesque El Nido and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, draw nature enthusiasts from around the globe.

Cebu offers a blend of historical landmarks, vibrant festivals, and stunning dive sites. Whether it’s the Sinulog Festival or diving with whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu promises a diverse and enriching travel experience.

Future Prospects and Challenges

While the Philippines celebrates its tourism triumphs, the industry also faces certain challenges and opportunities:

Sustainable Tourism

Maintaining the delicate balance between tourism growth and environmental conservation is crucial. Emphasis on sustainable practices can ensure that the country’s natural beauty is preserved for future generations.

Infrastructure Development

Continued investment in infrastructure is essential to accommodate the growing number of tourists. This includes expanding airports, improving public transportation, and developing alternative transportation solutions.

Marketing Strategies

The Philippines must continue to innovate in its marketing efforts to attract a diverse range of tourists. Leveraging digital platforms and social media can help reach a broader audience and showcase the unique experiences the country has to offer.

The Philippines’ travel industry reaching an unprecedented P5.4 trillion high is a testament to the country’s allure and the effectiveness of its tourism strategies. The economic gains, job creation, and investment opportunities underscore the significance of this achievement. As the industry continues to flourish, a focus on sustainability and infrastructure development will be key to sustaining this remarkable growth. With its myriad attractions and warm hospitality, the Philippines is set to remain a top destination for travelers worldwide.

Brown County's tourism hit a record $1.335 billion in economic impact in 2023

by Ashley Kaster, FOX 11 News

GREEN BAY (WLUK) -- Tourism generated $1.335 billion economic impact in 2023 in Brown County.

Discover Green Bay says Brown County tourism experienced record-breaking 2023, contributing to Wisconsin tourism’s historic $25 billion economic impact.

Visitors to the community spent nearly $800 million at Brown County businesses, ranking Brown County fifth in overall visitor spending behind Milwaukee, Dane, Sauk, and Waukesha counties.

“Once again, we saw record-breaking tourism impact in the Green Bay area,” said Brad Toll, President and CEO of Discover Green Bay. “Our region is a hot-spot for tourism, and we’re so excited to be a part of that growth. As we look forward to the 2025 NFL Draft, this is yet another reminder how critical the tourism economy is to our region.”

Tourism in Brown County also generated $48.41 million in local tax revenue and $100.5 million in total tax revenue. Additionally, last year, Brown County tourism supported 10,676 part- and full-time jobs across various sectors of the industry. Discover Green Bay noted increases in both overnight trips and day trips, rising by 2% and 6%, respectively.

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Tourism and local communities – connections between Scotland and Majorca

Published: 29 April 2024

Dr Guillem Colom-Montero has been looking at the island of Majorca in Spain and the Scottish Highlands and Western Islan to gauge the impacts of tourism, particularly in the last decade, where the industry has become the main focus of public and political debate.

The island of Majorca in Spain and the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles would not on the face of it seem to have much in common.

They are hundreds of miles away from each other. They have radically different climates and speak different languages. Yet the impacts of tourism in both Scotland and Spain in the last decade are felt in similar ways by local communities, according to research being undertaken by an academic at the University of Glasgow.

Dr Guillem Colom-Montero has been looking at both countries to gauge the impacts of tourism, particularly in the last decade, where the industry has become the main focus of public and political debate.

Local community associations, particularly in Majorca, have been overly critical of the effects that tourism is having on housing, public services, jobs, landscape, and the environment as well as linguistic and cultural sustainability. They see the island being totally overwhelmed by the influx of visitors – Majorca is home to one million residents and receives more than 12 million tourists annually. Now tourism is being described as a “devastating,” “unsustainable force” by community leaders which is rapidly transforming the island’s environment, landscape, and territory as well as its sociocultural fabric.

Tourism is seen as the main cause of the locals’ inaccessibility to housing due to the rapidly increasing prices both in urban and rural areas as well as of the strain on public services and roads due to overcrowding, in particular during the summer months. Residents also complain of the working conditions and low salaries offered in the tourism industry and are particularly critical of vacation rentals and the recent boom of residential tourism and second homes, which has led to a housing crisis.

Dr Colom-Montero, a Lecturer at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Glasgow, whose University of Glasgow’s Stories from Glasgow Podcast is launched today, said: “Tourism has triggered such overarching transformations at all social, cultural and economic levels that Majorcans no longer recognise the island, don’t feel they belong and at times even feel expelled.

“Majorcan culture has seen a mushrooming of creative, literary, and cultural responses to overtourism, including fiction, poetry, travelogues, documentary film, drama, political cartooning, and a body of cultural production by grassroots activism. These creations represent tourism through narratives and vocabularies of colonialism, invasion, destruction, illness, malaise, and collective trauma.”

“This acutely critical perspective suggests a culturally traumatic experience associated to the environmental and sociocultural effects of mass tourism on Majorca. It is fascinating to see parallels with Scotland, where communities are also facing similar problems and are now beginning to find their voices against mass-tourism and its impact on their local areas.”

Margalida Ramis is the president of GOB, the largest environmentalist association in the Balearic Islands, who told Dr Colom-Montero during interviews conducted for his research: “The main problem is Majorca’s total economic dependence on tourism, which I would define as a ‘monocrop;’ which is why it seems impossible to keep its detrimental impacts in check.”

Dr Colom-Montero said: ‘The situation is remarkably similar in the Canary Islands, where more than 60,000 people took to the streets recently to demand a change of the tourism model. This has been the largest demonstration ever to take place in the Canaries and, like in the Balearics, demonstrators also called to limit property sales to non-residents.”

Toni Pallicer, an activist from the grassroots collective Tot inclòs, emphasises the huge transformations triggered by the post-pandemic explosion of property purchases by non-residents and added: “While overcrowding used to be seasonal and in specific areas, it has now become the norm all over the island and all year round. Overall, there is a clear feeling that a tipping point has been reached.”

This is a view shared by certain industry stakeholders and large hotel companies – in January, the CEO of Riu Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest chains on the island and the 30th globally, went as far as proposing a referendum on tourism numbers.

This is a comparable situation being faced in parts of Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Western Isles.

Last year, Dr Colom-Montero started analysing residents’ reactions to tourism in Scotland. In May 2023, he visited the isle of Barra, where he screened the Majorcan documentary film Overbooking (2019), which revolves around the impacts of mass tourism on the island, in the Barra Learning Centre and Castlebay Community School.

The screenings were followed by a lively debate and, while the intensity was seen as smaller, the responses were quite telling: ‘all these issues ring a bell here,’ while another resident said it now felt like they were living in a ‘theme park.’

Dr Colom-Montero said: “Both Barra and Majorca, the Hebrides, and the Balearics, are remote, fragile island-environments in which rural imaginaries are still very much present in the everyday life experience of the local population. The sudden and comprehensive transformations experienced in recent years are felt in dramatic ways in both regions, which share the historical link between landscape, community identity and language, Gaelic in the Hebrides, and Catalan in the Balearics.”

Gail Anthea Brown, a writer from Caithness who, after watching Overbooking online, said: “There are many parallels in this documentary with feelings around tourism in the Highlands & Islands. Majorcan residents' concerns around the impacts of tourism are mirrored across our communities, who have been negatively affected by initiatives such as the North Coast 500, and the increasing portrayal of rural areas as travel destinations rather than places where people live. It was particularly interesting to note the documentary's caution around the development of 'alternative' tourism streams, such as slow, immersive, and off-season travel, which, without restriction in other areas, adding up to more unsustainable tourism. The Majorcan experience should be a cautionary tale for the Highlands and Islands, where overtourism has all too often left communities feeling powerless and overwhelmed.”

Toni Pallicer says Majorca has seen a massive increase of ‘estate agents focusing on non-residents, usually from Northern Europe,’ who ‘buy a property to spend short spells on the island and live isolated from the local community, don’t build the place or join the social fabric.’

On Skye in Scotland, it would appear to be the same. Theatre-maker Daniel Cullen from Portree wrote the play ‘The Chariot, the Flag and the Empty, Empty Houses’ after working for three years with community groups tackling rural housing problems in Skye and Lochalsh.

Speaking to Dr Colom-Montero, Mr Cullen said: “Tourism is the only show in town, and this has clear impacts on jobs and housing: most hospitality posts are low-paid and temporary, and the huge expansion of second homes and short-term lettings pushes local people out. In the past people left Skye for jobs, now there are more jobs than people because people cannot afford to live here. It now feels like you are being forbidden to live where you are from.”

• Stories from Glasgow - Overtourism

Dr Guillem Colom-Montero’s College of Arts & Humanities at the University of Glasgow podcast series – Stories from Glasgow is available via this University of Glasgow website page .

Stories from Glasgow podcast series

You can listen into the full series of Stories from Glasgow podcasts highlighting the research and work of academics from across the College of Arts & Humanities at the University of Glasgow via the follow podcast website page  

First published: 29 April 2024

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• Anticipate the evolution of roles, skills, operating model, data, and governance.

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Artificial Intelligence

/ slideshow, ai at work 2024: friend and foe.

By  Vinciane Beauchene ,  Renee Laverdiere ,  Sylvain Duranton ,  Jeff Walters ,  Vladimir Lukic , and  Nicolas de Bellefonds

The rapid adoption of classic AI and GenAI in businesses is creating a split-screen effect:

• On one side, employees are reporting increasing confidence in these tools over the past year as they use the tools more frequently. About half of employees are saving at least five hours a week by using GenAI at work.
• On the other, employees who regularly use GenAI tools are more likely than others to worry about job loss. Overall, 49% of regular users believe that their job may disappear in the next ten years, compared with only 24% of employees who do not use GenAI.

These dueling and paradoxical views emerge from a global survey conducted by BCG X of 13,102 employees—from executive suite leaders to frontline employees—in 15 countries and regions. Most of the respondents work in office-based roles. The accompanying slideshow provides a more detailed picture of the survey results.

Reshaping the Organization

We conducted the survey at a critical phase in the maturation of GenAI, as companies move beyond pilots and start to integrate the technology into the fabric of their organizations. Nearly two-thirds of leaders, 64%, said that they are starting to use GenAI to reshape their organizations.

As companies transform their businesses to accommodate GenAI, they will need to manage this workplace tension between confidence and concern. One approach is to emphasize GenAI’s ability to reduce the drudgery of work, such as administrative tasks, while increasing the time available for tasks that employees enjoy, such as professional development and, for managers, mentoring and coaching.

How GenAI Saves Time

The productivity-enhancing benefits of GenAI are well known. But what do employees do with the five hours a week that the tool saves?

Respondents report devoting the additional time to such useful activities as performing more tasks (41%) or new tasks (39%), experimenting with GenAI (38%), and working on strategic tasks (38%). GenAI is allowing these employees to work smarter. It is not just removing toil from their work.

Training Can Unlock GenAI’s Potential

Leaders and frontline employees recognize the need for training to fully activate GenAI. It is central to the top three challenges that leaders identify today:

• Lack of AI and GenAI literacy in nontech roles
• Uncertainty about when to use GenAI
• Lack of AI and GenAI technology talent

Likewise, the top three challenges of frontline workers in using GenAI relate to training:

• Insufficient time to learn how to use the tool
• Ineffective training
• Users’ uncertainty about when to use GenAI

Although companies have made strides in training their employees since last year, when we conducted a similar survey, we found this year that only 30% of managers and 28% of frontline employees have been trained in how AI will change their jobs, compared with half of leaders.

The Global South Leads the Way

Respondents from Brazil, India, Nigeria, South Africa, and Middle East countries (these respondents were grouped together) were more consistently bullish than respondents in mature markets about GenAI. They expressed greater confidence in GenAI and lower anxiety about the technology. The Global South had a higher proportion of regular users of GenAI at work among its leaders, managers, and frontline employees than the Global North did.

In the time freed up by using GenAI, Global South respondents were more likely to experiment with the tool, engage in professional development, and focus on the quality of their work. Finally, managers and frontline employees from the Global South were more likely than their peers in the Global North to have received GenAI training.

Their positive views likely reflect the overall youth and optimism of their populations and the gathering strength of their economies.

Unleashing the Transformative Power of GenAI

The survey exposes the double-edged nature of GenAI. Familiarity correlates with both comfort and fear. GenAI is a revolutionary technology, so these opposing reactions should not be surprising.

But these human reactions do pose a challenge to organizations as they embark on a transformation built around GenAI. Fortunately, the rules of transformation are not revolutionary, and most companies have experience in transformation. The accompanying slideshow provides a more detailed view of the survey results and a set of five key recommendations:

• Establish a transformation-first mindset.
• Manage all your transformations.

As we wrote last year, “these are more management challenges than technology challenges.” By recognizing the complex ways in which humans understand and interact with GenAI, leaders can reshape their organizations to maximize the strengths and value of their human and machine workers.

Managing Director & Partner

Managing Director & Senior Partner; Global Leader, BCG X

Managing Director & Senior Partner

Managing Director & Senior Partner; Global Leader, Tech and Digital Advantage

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