Employee Guide

Why Invest in Skills Development?

1. Stay relevant in a dynamic industry

Learning never stops. Whether you’re new to sustainable tourism, or already a seasoned expert, you will benefit from investing time and effort into strengthening your knowledge and building your skills.

Tourism is constantly evolving with new trends, technologies, and customer preferences. Continued education ensures that you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the industry. Whether it's learning about sustainable tourism practices, emerging destinations, or marketing strategies, ongoing education helps you adapt to change and remain relevant in your role.

2. Advance your career opportunities

As you gain new knowledge and expertise, you'll feel more empowered in your role. Staying engaged in learning is also a great way to continuously reignite your passion for your work and to remain motivated to advance in your career.

Investing in your skills and knowledge should be a key part of your ongoing professional development journey, whether you aspire to move into a leadership role, transition to a different sector of tourism, or pursue entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, relevant certifications and qualifications can enhance your performance, both within your current role, and in various paths you take throughout your career.

3. Build a professional network

Engaging in educational programs, training courses and group workshops provides opportunities to connect with other professionals in the tourism industry. Networking allows you to exchange ideas, learn from others' experiences, and establish valuable contacts that can support your career growth.

Whether it's attending industry conferences, participating in online forums, or joining professional associations, building a strong network of colleagues, partners and mentors can open doors to new opportunities.

How to Pursue Professional Development in Sustainable Tourism?

There are many different ways you can work on your professional skills and build relevant expertise to become more engaged in sustainable tourism as part of your career.

1. Opportunities available through your employer

Most employers offer on-the-job support for continued education. Research if your employer is paying for professional development-related opportunities, and discuss your interest with your employer.

If your employer does not offer in-house training, or have active programs addressing staff skills and knowledge building needs, consider discussing the needs and benefits of investing in staff training with your employers. For example, you can share our Employer Guide as a way to start the conversation.

2. Opportunities available through relevant industry organizations

You can also explore various courses, training offers, events and webinars available through other organizations. For example:

• The official tourism authority, government agency or destination organization in your country
• The industry association serving your region or sector
• Universities, community colleges, vocational schools and other local educational organizations

3. Opportunities to make "learning by doing" a part of your work

Make learning a key part of your job role and day-to-day tasks. For example:

• Volunteer to be part of (or even start, if your company doesn’t have one yet) the “Green Team” or “Sustainability Committee” at your company.
• Propose learning-oriented opportunities to be part of your team’s daily routines, e.g. “Lunch & Learn” sessions with external speakers, internal match-making coffee breaks to facilitate staff members from different departments learning about and from each other.
• Work with team leaders, HR managers and others in relevant departments to make sustainability information a regular part of your company’s internal staff communication. You can, for example, use team emails or chats to highlight comments by your customers about sustainability aspects of their experiences, or share tips on how to incorporate sustainability mindset within different areas of your business.

How and Where to Get Started?

1. Consider your learning needs

What are some of the skills sets and knowledge areas that come to mind when you think of what you’d like to learn more, or improve your understanding of? Start there, and ask yourself “Why?”.

For example:
“I want to learn more about sustainability reporting”
>> Why? “Because I want to help improve my company’s reporting”
>> Why? “Because this will help us better engage our stakeholders”

Then think about areas specifically relevant to your job roles. What skills and knowledge do you already have that can support you in your goals? What gaps do you have that need to be filled?

2. Define your skills & development long-term vision

Think of your future self who has achieved your key learning and professional development aims. What attributes and abilities do you see in the future you? What new opportunities does the future you have because of the skills and knowledge you’ve gained?

Keep this long-term vision in mind as you work on short-term steps.

3. Set your learning targets

What are some of the key milestones you’ll need to achieve to get to that future vision?

This doesn’t mean you need to set aside many years and lots of money to get a new degree. Consider different ways you can enhance your work within your current roles and responsibilities by improving relevant skills. Try to define specific targets (e.g. gaining experience in using and applying a method; improving performance by incorporating a new workflow or a management technique).

In addition to your targets around skills development related to your current job roles, consider general professional development goals, focusing on those areas that will help enhance your sustainability journey throughout your career.  

Our Solutions for You

1. Find inspirations, ideas, and lessons

A great way to find inspiration for one's own path to working in sustainable tourism, we believe, is learning from those who are doing exactly that - working in sustainable tourism. Our Sustainability Journey article series shares stories of industry professionals actively engaged in sustainability - from business leaders to marketing specialists, sustainability managers, destination stewardship experts, to community development practitioners.

2. Follow our recommend resources and tools

In addition to courses, case studies and other resources available on TrainingAid, we regularly share useful tools and resources for tourism professionals in our newsletter. Be sure to sign up so you can receive these useful recommendations in your inbox.

3. Want a custom solution for you and your team?

Ask your employer about custom training solutions. Regardless of your business type or size, your team will benefit from empowering employees with practical knowledge of sustainability in tourism. Get in touch with us to start discussing options for your team.