The UNWTO General Assembly looked to the future with a focus on tourism education and training. The Global Education Forum brought together ministers, employers, educators and learners to address the biggest challenges and opportunities for advancing training across all areas of the sector.
A priority for global tourism
According to data analyzed by UNWTO, the majority of the global tourism workforce is made up of young people, many without additional training or qualifications. At the same time, existing tourism education centers and programs prioritize hospitality, with UNWTO aiming to fill the gaps and provide courses and other training to enable students gain knowledge on all aspects of this diverse sector. Opening the Forum, UNWTO Executive Director Natalia Bayona clearly outlined the opportunities and challenges: Tourism is the number one employer of young people: more than 50% of its workers are aged 25 or younger1, while that approximately 882,000 tourism jobs2 per year will require professional training by 2030. .
Tourism ministers from Andorra, Bahrain, Guatemala, the Philippines and Zambia provided their expert opinions at a high-level debate on policies to foster innovation and education for generations current and future. Challenges highlighted included the high turnover rate of tourism staff compared to other economic sectors and the lack of tourism as a subject in schools in most education systems. The discussion explored opportunities to develop new policies, effective instruments and global partnerships to support the development of inclusive and sustainable tourism while closing the skills gap and creating value-added jobs.
UNWTO presents the educational toolbox for the integration of tourism as a subject in secondary schools
As part of the Education Forum, UNWTO presented the Educational Toolbox, a guide of recommendations to help all stakeholders involved in education introduce tourism as a subject in secondary school curricula in the ultimate goal of attracting and training the right talents for the tourism sector. .
The UNWTO Education Toolkit provides an overview of the current situation of secondary schools and vocational training worldwide, it also gives recommendations derived from contributions from UNWTO Member States, non-UNWTO Member States members and academic partners and also presents successful case studies on tourism integration. education and training in public and private schools. Additionally, it includes a comprehensive overview of benefits, with specialized study programs offered by UNWTO’s academic partners: Cambridge Assessment International Education, the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI), and the Organization of International Baccalaureate (IBO).
Also at the Forum, participants were given an overview of the recently inaugurated Tourism Academy in Samarkand in collaboration with UNWTO, a key outcome of the country’s strong partnership with UNWTO.
OMT – HSLU Bachelor of Science in International Sustainable Tourism
During Bayona’s keynote speech, she also presented the three-year flexible BSc in Sustainable International Tourism that UNWTO and the Swiss Public University of Applied Sciences and Arts Lucerne (HSLU) have developed to enable transformation looking towards the future of the entire tourism sector. This unique initiative will be the first time that UNWTO will be actively involved in an undergraduate programme, with modules that include a variety of UN-related topics, such as UN diplomacy and tourism and missions and UNWTO global initiatives, and will deliberately integrate UN values. and overall objectives throughout the courses. The first cohort of the program will begin in fall 2024 with a first year in Madrid, followed by a year remotely and a third last year in Switzerland.
Ulysses Prize for Tourism Education
Highlighting the Global Education Forum, Dr Bao Jigang was awarded the prestigious Ulysses Prize, a testament to his remarkable contribution to the field of tourism. Recognized as the 16th recipient of this prestigious distinction bestowed by UNWTO for his outstanding achievements in knowledge creation and dissemination in the field of tourism, Dr. Bao’s illustrious career serves as a shining example of his invaluable impact. Throughout his distinguished academic career, he played a pivotal role in catalyzing the growth of domestic tourism, in his country, the People’s Republic of China, increasing its scale and importance as a leading global tourism destination.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, The Greek Islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek Tourism Report
