Employee Skills Demand In The Hospitality Industry: Seasonal Vs. Non-Seasonal Tourist Destinations

Tourism in one of the fastest growing economic sectors, with high job creation potential and one of the main drivers for national economies’ recovery after the 2008 global economic crisis. According to Word Travel and Tourism Council (2019), at a global level, the tourism sector accounted for 10.4% of global GDP and 10% of total employment. Social circumstances, the geopolitical strategies and the new technologies are considerably changing supply and demand of the sector, which means that the needs of the hospitality industry, which has to please more experienced and demanding travelers, must be investigated and fulfilled by the competencies and skills of the tourism workforce. These changes determine a need for skills forecasting. Moreover, it is essential to also identify the current gaps in the training and aptitudes of the workforce in the hospitality industry. The purpose of this scientific approach is to determine the requirements of four and five stars’ hotel managers in terms of competencies of their employees. This paper was based on the hypothesis that both employers’ satisfaction and the skills of the employees differ weather the tourism facility they work in or are in charge with is based in a destination affected by seasonality or not. A comparative approach on two Romanian tourist destinations with different seasonal patterns, Bucharest, capital city and Mamaia, a seaside resort from Constanta city, was adopted by this paper, in order to identify and discuss the specific requirements of tourism businesses from each location. While the main results of this scientific approach show a drastic negative impact on the employee’s qualification, the main conclusion of the paper reveals the necessity of the tourism industry of a targeted curriculum on its needs, jointly developed by educational facilities and tourism businesses.