Transversal Competencies for Future Tourism Graduates: Stakeholder Alignment and Curriculum Innovation in European VET
Based on survey data from six European countries, this study identifies divergent stakeholder perspectives on essential transversal competencies for tourism graduates and proposes the European Stakeholder-Aligned Competency Framework (ESACoF) to guide curriculum innovation that bridges these gaps.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine the world of tourism as a massive, bustling theme park. For decades, the job of training the future staff (the guides, the ticket sellers, the hotel managers) was like teaching kids how to push a specific button on a specific ride. You learned the rules, you memorized the map, and you were ready to work. But lately, the theme park has been completely remodeled. The rides are now powered by artificial intelligence, the weather inside the park changes every five minutes, and the visitors expect the staff to be eco-friendly superheroes who can speak every language and solve problems before they even happen. This is the world of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in tourism today. It's no longer just about knowing the "hard" facts of how to run a hotel; it's about mastering transversal competencies. Think of these not as specific tools in a toolbox, but as the superpowers of adaptability, communication, and digital savvy that let you use any tool, in any situation, no matter how the world changes. The big question for educators is: How do we teach these superpowers? And more importantly, do the students, the teachers, and the bosses all agree on what those superpowers actually look like?
This paper is like a giant, friendly detective story where the authors, Remigiusz Mazur and Ludmiła Walaszczyk, try to solve the mystery of what future tourism graduates actually need to know. They didn't just guess; they went on a fact-finding mission across six European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain) in early 2025. They gathered a team of 214 people, split into three groups: the students (who are about to enter the workforce), the teachers (who are trying to teach them), and the industry bosses (who are waiting to hire them). They asked everyone the same big questions: What skills will matter most in the future? How ready are we? And where do we disagree?
The investigation revealed that everyone agrees on the "Big Six" superpowers needed for the future: Communication, Adaptability, Digital Collaboration, Sustainability Mindset, Inclusiveness, and Entrepreneurial Initiative. It's like everyone at the theme park agrees that the staff needs to be able to talk to guests, handle sudden changes, use high-tech gadgets, care for the environment, welcome everyone, and come up with new ideas. However, the paper suggests that while everyone agrees on the names of these skills, they see them through very different lenses.
For the students, these skills are about confidence and getting a job. They are like kids who know they need to be cool and capable to survive the park, but they feel a bit shaky because they haven't had enough practice with the new, high-tech rides (like Virtual Reality or XR). About 70% of the students said technology will change their future, but 60% admitted they rarely get to use these cool tools in class. They are eager to learn but feel the training is a bit behind the times.
The teachers are the ones trying to build the new rides, but they are hitting a wall. They know these skills are important, but they are stuck in a "resource trap." The paper notes that 80% of teachers said they lack the equipment, 65% said they don't have enough time in the schedule, and 60% said they don't have enough technical support. They are like mechanics who know exactly how to fix the new engines but are missing the wrenches and the garage space to do it. They want to innovate, but they need help from the school administration to get the tools they need.
The industry representatives (the bosses) are looking at the finished product. They don't care about the theory; they need staff who can actually do the job. They want graduates who can handle a difficult customer, sort recycling bins correctly, and use a digital reservation system without panicking. They see "sustainability" not as a nice idea, but as a daily task like waste separation and eco-certification. They see "digital collaboration" not as a class project, but as the ability to work with a team using new software to solve a crisis.
The paper suggests that the biggest problem isn't that we don't know what skills to teach; it's that we are trying to teach them in a vacuum. You can't just add a "Communication" module to a syllabus and hope it sticks. The authors argue that these skills need to be baked into everything, like yeast in bread. To fix this, they created a new map called ESACoF (The European Stakeholder-Aligned Competency Framework). Think of ESACoF as a shared blueprint for the theme park. It doesn't just list the skills; it shows how the student's desire to learn, the teacher's need for support, and the boss's need for results all fit together.
The study suggests that if schools want to prepare students for the future, they can't just listen to the bosses or just listen to the students. They have to listen to all three and find the middle ground. The paper explicitly rules out the idea that we can just make a generic list of "soft skills" and call it a day. It argues that without understanding where the groups agree and where they clash, any new curriculum will fail. For example, if a school introduces Virtual Reality because students love it, but the teachers don't know how to use it and the bosses don't see how it helps the daily work, the whole project will flop.
In the end, the paper suggests that the future of tourism education depends on alignment. It's not about finding a magic bullet or a single "best" skill. It's about building a system where the students feel confident, the teachers feel supported, and the bosses get the ready-to-work professionals they need. The authors propose that by using their new framework, schools can turn these six superpowers into real, teachable, and testable parts of the curriculum, ensuring that when the next generation of tourism workers steps onto the stage, they are ready for whatever the future throws at them.
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