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The digital skills divide: evidence from the European tourism industry

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posted on 2022-02-08, 14:08 authored by Sheena Carlisle, Stanislav Ivanov, Corné Dijkmans
Purpose This paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies. Design/methodology/approach Mixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria). Findings The most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents’ answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them. Originality/value The paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future

History

Published in

Journal of Tourism Futures

Publisher

Emerald

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Citation

Carlisle, S., Ivanov, S. and Dijkmans, C. (2021) 'The digital skills divide: evidence from the European tourism industry', Journal of Tourism Futures. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JTF-07-2020-0114

Print ISSN

2055-5911

Cardiff Met Affiliation

  • Cardiff School of Management

Cardiff Met Authors

Sheena Carlisle

Cardiff Met Research Centre/Group

  • WCTR (Welsh Centre for Tourism Research)

Copyright Holder

  • © The Authors

Language

  • en

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