Scottish Government

CONCLUSIONS

• Clear and coherent leadership for skills development in the sector can only come from the industry. The Tourism Framework for Change, with delivery led by the Scottish Tourism Forum, is the place for this leadership to develop. It will specifically address skills, through the creation of an industry-led skills group which will develop a Tourism Skills Plan.

• The public sector, including publicly-funded learning providers, must listen and respond to the needs and demands articulated by the work of the Tourism Framework for Change. Public sector agencies must do more to share and understand each others' work so they can provide a coherent response to the private sector lead. In particular, they need to consult each other more effectively before creating new qualifications and skills interventions for the sector.
• Flexibility in delivery methods is critical to industry and needs to improve. There is scope for colleges and universities to be more innovative in when, where and how they provide learning to support the sector. Industry should continue to articulate its needs - which will be varied and require varying responses - in this area to local and national providers. Partnerships between colleges, universities and private training providers should be encouraged to meet this flexibility in demand.
• The current range of qualifications is not generally perceived as a problem by industry leaders or by the sector skills council, People 1st. Signposting, on the other hand, is. There are currently a large number of interventions by many different organisations leading to confusion and uncertainty. Skills Development Scotland should be responsible for a single repository of information which is clearly signposted from relevant industry sites. The industry, through the skills group of the Tourism Framework for Change, should determine which website should signpost the industry to that resource.
• A lack of management and leadership skills is the single biggest threat to the industry and its growth ambitions, and must be addressed across all education and training provision. Getting this right will drive improvements in all the other skills required for the sector to flourish and industry should articulate its needs in this area as a priority. The vision developed for and through the feasibility study for an International Tourism and Hospitality Leadership School will be a focus for this articulation.
• Local hotel school developments will form part of the response to management/supervisory and craft issues at a local level.