UN Tourism Academy

Tourism at international level is expected to grow in the coming years. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge at the same time. The opportunity is to invest and create quality job opportunities in the tourism sector. The challenge is that, in order to support the expected growth and to achieve tourism sector competitiveness and sustainability, UN Tourism Member States need the right tourism human capital base that meets current and future market demands and, ultimately, enhances competitiveness and sustainability of tourism destinations.

Tourism Education Guidelines

Why is Human Capital important for Tourism?

Tourism employment delivers long-term benefits to destinations and these benefits include economic development, poverty alleviation, and sustainability. Naturally, tourism is also conducive for enterprise development as it opens opportunities for small and medium sized businesses that are engaged in providing products and services for the tourism industry.

There are several characteristics that make tourism an attractive economic development option and key in that is its potential to create and support jobs and boost employment.

Given its economic connections, tourism’s impacts are particularly strong in the local farming and fishing industries, handicrafts and construction industry, among others. It is for these reasons that tourism is strongly recognized as a valuable tool in alleviating poverty as employment within the sector can provide income and experience and therefore contribute to a person’s social inclusion and individual development. It also contributes in a major way to the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of destinations, where local people are employed and trained and income flows directly to the local economy.

UN Tourism Academy

At the UN Tourism Academy, we strive to help UN Tourism Member States to face these opportunities and challenges by offering them a comprehensive portfolio of products and options to address this: