Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes: Competencies for Sustainable Tourism

The tourism industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and a major source of employment. Tourism protects the natural and social environment along with global friendliness and unity. This increased the interest of many entrepreneurs and locals in the tourism industry for a source of income. Tourism is a smoke-free and people-centered industry that requires skilled manpower. Core traditional skills in the tourism sector are communication skills, interpersonal skills, language skills, etc., but the world is changing and so the tourism sector. A range of skills are required to maximize productivity, profitability, and employability in order to match emerging trends in the tourism sector. The COVID-19 pandemic crashed the tourism industry so badly. For the long-term sustainability of the tourism sector, strategic human resource training and career development programs and policies are required to be linked with the industry for optimum utilization of resources and skills. The chapter aims to identify a set of skills for personnel in the tourism industry in general. Various literature and research papers have been investigated to carry out an in-depth study and focus on identifying new skills required in human resources to face challenges in the market of the tourism industry. It has been analyzed that training and development programs need to be designed to respond to specific trends and changes in the tourism sector. For example, the digitalization of tourism is one big change in the industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic that demands digital skills, information, and technological skills in personnel. Lacking in necessary skills of service providers could impact productivity in a negative sense and could harm the reputation of business and profitability and even the overall sector of tourism.