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This paper aims to assess receptiveness for Tourism and Hospitality as a career path among students in the Tourism Department of Sultan Qaboos University (College of Arts and Social Sciences), located in the Sultanate of Oman. The following objectives were identified to achieve this aim: assess respondents’ perceptions of tourism and hospitality employment; respondents’ tourism and hospitality employment commitment factors; and respondents’ perceptions of tourism and hospitality jobs.

A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data and measure respondents’ perceptions of the subject under investigation. Survey questions were developed from the literature reviewed which provided the framework for the questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises four different question categories: general information; students’ general perception of tourism and hospitality employment; and tourism and hospitality employment commitment factors; students’ perceptions of tourism and hospitality jobs. Data were tested for normality of distribution; then, means were used for data description and ranking; thereafter, the independent-samples t-test and analysis of variance were conducted to test for significance between groups of respondents; the level of significance used was p ≤ 0.05.

The paper revealed that nearly 41 per cent of the students will continue working in tourism and hospitality for some time. For them, working in the industry is a step on the way, but is not a career path. Only 21.6 per cent are willing to consider tourism and hospitality as their long-term chosen career path. Tourism and hospitality students’ perceptions of the industry tend to be negatively affected as they progress in their study plan. Commitment to employment in Tourism and Hospitality is shaped by four major interrelated factor categories: industry, personality, education and society. The Omani tourism and hospitality industry was not able to project an image that could generate interest among Omanis. Consequently, very few graduates join the Tourism and Hospitality job market, leading to shortages in Omani workers in the industry. The major drawback of such trend is the inability to achieve the Omanization planned figures.

The findings are intended to assist tourism and hospitality educators, employers and policymakers better understand students’ future employment intentions.

The purpose of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of the scope of talent development (TD) strategies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry contexts.

Because the literature on talent management and TD in tourism and hospitality is limited and fragmented, an integrative literature review method was used to identify and analyze relevant studies to create a more comprehensive representation of the industry’s talent strategies.

Findings from the literature review showed that by nature, the context of tourism and hospitality is complex and the meaning of talent in this industry is not necessarily comparable to other industry sectors (Baum, 2008). While most industries adopt a more exclusive approach to develop talent, an inclusive approach may be more ideal for tourism and hospitality especially in light of the importance of frontline employees for business success. More robust management structures and human resource systems are needed especially in small and medium tourism enterprises to aid the facilitation of TD. A partnership approach involving strong commitment between education, industry and government should be necessitated to implement and sustain TD considering the importance of the industry to nation’s economic and social advancement.

This study adds to the body of literature on TD in tourism and hospitality. Future research opportunities should explore both qualitative and quantitative methods to provide empirical evidence and to further build on the literature.

Generally, organizations place emphasis on the development of technical skills, however, managers and leaders of tourism organizations should focus on developing both technical and generic competencies especially for frontline employees to ensure that a positive image of the organization is consistently demonstrated. TD can influence employees’ emotional labor; therefore, increased and quality emotional labor training can impact the types of strategies that employees use during guest encounters to promote quality service.

The paper contributes a comprehensive review of the literature on TD in the tourism and hospitality context. The TD map provides more focused direction and will aid in the establishment of TD strategies and practices.

This chapter analyzes the importance and performance of values in tourism higher education and business as seen by the alumni of the European Master in Tourism Management. The students were exposed to the values-based education framework proposed by the Tourism Educational Future Initiative. This chapter empirically tests the relevance of its model for an ideal and real industry, and for the corresponding world of tourism education. Using importance performance analysis, results identify gaps between the importance and performance in the values. The findings have implications for the future development and implementation of experimental values-based education.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a thematic content analysis of facial emotion recognition (FER) research within the context of the hospitality and tourism industry. Through this analysis, the study aims to identify key themes, trends and implications of the utilization of FER technology in enhancing customer emotions and experiences within hospitality and tourism settings.

This is qualitative research that utilizes thematic content analysis. The research data were obtained from the Scopus database. A total of 45 articles (titles, abstracts and keywords) were coded into MAXQDA and VOSWiever programs for data analyses and mapping.

Based on the analyses, the predominant term used in titles was emotion, indicating its centrality in the research domain. Moreover, the most prevalent concepts in this field were emotion and experience. Notably, facial emotion recognition emerged as the most frequently utilized term within this context. Within the hospitality and tourism industry, FER was primarily employed within the travel sub-branch. Finally, the research culminated in the visualization of the theoretical framework and conceptual background, offering a comprehensive overview of the field.

There is a growing demand for using FER technology specifically within the hospitality and tourism industry context; therefore, growing scientific research has been conducted on this topic recently. By conducting a thematic content analysis, this study uncovered novel insights into the utilization of this technology to enhance customer emotions and experiences, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of its potential implications and applications within the hospitality and tourism industry.

For the islands of the Caribbean, tourism is more than an industry to be managed. Significantly, it is a socioeconomic phenomenon that if managed effectively can address some of the challenges facing the region. Tourism higher education plays a critical role in preparing graduates to shape an improved Caribbean tourism society and in performing research. Over the years, its tourism education has been framed by “Western models” that have not taken sufficient account of the Caribbean reality. The focus of this chapter is to define Caribbean education and to propose a tourism higher education strategy for the implementation in part of this education.

Introduction: Skills are vital for the survival of an organisation to meet its objectives through producing goods and services. Due to their importance, they are among the sought-after aspects of employment. However, organisations need more skilled employees to bridge the gaps due to disruptions, shifts in consumer demands and needs, and transformations in the global world.

Purpose of the Study: This study aims to identify various skill gap in talent, competencies, and experience emerging in the hospitality sector. It will also present some challenges to the hospitality sector that faces due to the skill gap identified.

Industrial and Academic Justification of the Study: The study examines the needs and challenges from academic and industry perspectives. Hence, it provides significance for academics and industry to apply the findings to address skill gap.

Research Gap: Previous research has focused on different aspects of skills in other countries. This study will look at the issue globally and the recent trends emerging from disruptions and shifts in consumer behaviour.

Results and Findings: Though the study is ongoing, the findings show that specific skill gap exist, particularly in emerging technologies, digitisation, data, robotics, and various job openings from different countries’ perspectives, hospitality, and the tourism industry.

Practical Implications: The findings have implications for the tourism and hospitality industry as a whole, as well as individual organisations. The tourism and hospitality industry should apply these suggestions, such as operational skills, digital skills, and interpersonal skills in various sections of tourism and hospitality organisations

While colleges have perceived the importance and growth within the tourism and hospitality industry, students in the industry have mixed feelings about career options that are available to them. The purpose of this paper is to discuss factors that underpin students ' perception of career options in the tourism and hospitality industry and to make recommendations for other developing countries.

A 21-variable structured questionnaire was used to solicit response from 260 Ghanaian tourism and hospitality students. The data was coded and keyed into MINITAB and SPSS statistical processing software. Various multivariate techniques such as Eigen-analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Secondary data was also obtained for student records.

The study revealed that, industry-person congeniality, social benefit factors, opportunity for professional development, and job competitiveness, were crucial in determining students ' choice of career options. Other factors include, career opportunities in tourism and hospitality industry were more easily attainable than in many other sectors of the economy; remuneration in the industry is grossly inadequate.

A limitation of the study is the use of HTM students of one university. Therefore, replication of this study in other tourism and hospitality institutions of higher in other developing countries is strongly recommended to harmonize the findings of this study.

Several implications were found including: getting students to be made aware of the career and career development opportunities available in each sector; educational institutions should partner with industry to provide internship and employment opportunities, that would encourage students to have a better perception of the industry; curb the escalating trend of “brain drain” away for the industry, while the industry should reorganize itself to correct the negative perception of low wages and high turnover.

The study was an original primary study that surveyed students at two tertiary level institutions to determine their perception of the career options available to them. The lessons are of value to stakeholders of Ghana ' s tourism and hospitality industry and relevance to those in other developing countries.

This study aims to provide a new overview and opportunities of blockchain (BCT), financial technology (fintech) and knowledge management (KM) over the past ten years. Its focus is on their potential to drive new value creation and innovation processes within the digital landscape of the tourism and hospitality.

This systematic literature review and sociotechnical approach employs a literature analysis, analyzing and synthesizing 62 relevant articles published in the past decade form e-databases (Web of Science and Scopus).

This study reveals that researchers frequently discuss the potential advantages and challenges of BCT, fintech and KM in this industry. These include establishing systems that prioritize transparency and traceability, addressing blockchain security concerns, enhancing financial transaction efficiency and trustworthiness, and promoting innovation and improvement through KM strategies. Furthermore, this review suggests that the application of blockchain, fintech and KM has the potential to create new markets and opportunities in the tourism and hospitality industry. This study provides insights into the state and implementation of technology-based and knowledge-based for tourism and hospitality in times of crisis and digitization era.

Shifting to new lens (refers to sociotechnical theory), from technology adoption strategy, it is important to stay updated with emerging technologies such as BCT and fintech and upcoming technologies trends must align with tourism and hospitality business objectives, customer expectations and market demands. From the socio-dimension, KM is not confined to technological tools alone. Instead, it is a strategic approach that emphasizes fostering a culture of open communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing within the team of tourism and hospitality industry.

Through a literature review approach, this study establishes a new foundation in tourism and hospitality such as analyzing research gaps, understanding benefits and challenges, supporting methodologies/theoretical frameworks and informing the future research opportunities. Additionally, a novel contribution is the inclusion of sociotechnical approach that is allocated into socio or knowledge resources perspective (knowledge management), and technical or technology perspective (blockchain and fintech) that drives tourism and hospitality innovation.

The hospitality and tourism sector has witnessed phenomenal growth in customer numbers during the postpandemic times. This growth has been accompanied by the use of technologies in customer interface and backend activities, including the adoption of self-serving technologies. This study aims to analyze the existing practices and challenges and establish a research agenda for the implementation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) (such as ChatGPT) and similar tools in the hospitality and tourism industry.

This study analyzes the existing literature and practices. This study draws upon these practices to outline a novel research agenda for scholars and practitioners working in this domain.

The integration of generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, will have a transformational impact on the hospitality and tourism industry. This study highlights the potential challenges of implementing such technologies from the perspectives of companies, customers and regulators.

This study serves as a reference material for those who are planning to use generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their hospitality and tourism businesses. This study also highlights potential pitfalls that ChatGPT-enabled systems may encounter during service delivery processes.

This study is a pioneering work that assesses the applications of ChatGPT in the hospitality and tourism industry. This study highlights the potential and challenges in implementing ChatGPT within the hospitality and tourism industry.

This paper aims to provide a critical reflection on the Great Resignation in the hospitality and tourism industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this paper reviews the causes and effects of the Great Resignation, addresses the labor shortage in this industry and proposes strategies that can help manage the challenges.

This paper is based on a critical analysis of emerging phenomena, related literature and researchers’ experiences and insights.

The Great Resignation has presented unprecedented challenges for the hospitality and tourism industry. A closer examination reveals that the pandemic has served as a catalyst rather than a leading cause of this trend. Workforce issues are becoming increasingly complex under contemporary influences, including internal elements such as new explications at work and external factors like the gig economy and technology implementation.

This study provides practical implications on how Hospitality and Tourism practitioners can respond to the Great Resignation on micro, meso and macro levels. The practical implications revolve around employees’ changing needs and preferences in the wave of Great Resignation, as well as the necessity for employers’ reflection and improvement.

This study marks an initial attempt to provide a critical assessment of a contemporary issue involving the Great Resignation. This paper extends its discussion through an advanced analysis of the issue, offers suggestions to manage current obstacles related to labor issues in hospitality and tourism, and illuminates future research directions.