VSGT Maribor na debatnem druženju gostila stanovske kolege iz 15 držav

Tridnevnega dogodka se je udeležilo skoraj 50 dijakov in študentov, ki so zastopali 26 šol iz kar 15 držav Evrope in Mediterana. Udeleženci so debatirali o zelenih veščinah, digitalizaciji turizma in kadrovskih izzivih. Udeleženci so ob zaključku izdelali skupni MANIFEST v anglešlkem jeziku, v katerem so povzeli glavne ugotovitve glede ključnih tem, ki so jih obravnavali.

Manifest si lahko prebereš v nadaljevanju:

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MANIFESTO

From 16^th – 21^st of April 2023, 31 students from 13 EU countries debated on three key topics in tourism nowadays, namely staff shortage, digitalisation and sustainability.

Below are key conclusions presented.

STAFF SHORTAGE

Tourism and hospitality industry all around the world is facing devastating labour shortages. The lack of workforce has already restricted the work of many businesses or even forced some to close completely, putting the whole sector into a deep crisis.

Tourism and hospitality workers are not valued by society, which discourages many people from taking jobs in the sector. The workers are underpaid, often being paid minimum wage, or lower since some of the countries still do not have established minimum wage, in addition they are only provided with minimal work benefits, such as health insurance or leave.

They are often overworked, which is an issue exacerbated by the staff shortage.

Many jobs in the sector are seasonal or temporary, offering no stability or chances of promotion. All of these problems have a cumulative effect on the public image of the tourism and hospitality industry, deterring many workers, who do not see it as a suitable employment option. Tourism and hospitality industry was especially severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the workers that lost their jobs during the pandemic are now unwilling to go back to working in the sector, as they have found new, often better paying and more stable employment elsewhere. This illustrates the lack of loyalty for the profession, which is one of the biggest problems in the field. In addition to all of the above, recent inflation has also severely impacted the already vulnerable industry and its workers. This is causing an even bigger staff shortage.

Firstly, we believe that improving work conditions is essential for attracting staff to the sector. Good work conditions foster productivity, commitment and attract new workers. Satisfied workers are more motivated and devoted to their work.   The employers should ensure liveable wages, adequate health insurance, paid leave, and other benefits for the workers. Government should change the legislation to raise the minimum wage and reduce worker exploitation. The sector would become more attractive to workers though improving the working conditions.

Improving the public image and promoting the sector are crucial to attracting new staff. Promoting the schools that train tourism and hospitality workers, would get more young people to choose a career in the sector. The young often don't choose to work in tourism and hospitality because they cannot see themselves having successful careers in the industry. Seeing successful role models could lead them to pursue a career in the sector. There are also many other good practices that would help motivate young people to find employment in the industry and start the exchange of ideas between countries and people. Some of the good practices include: exchanges in which one has to work in exchange for an accommodation, which are a great way to discover different jobs, as well as ordinary exchanges where one can explore the world. Secondly, quality mentorships, where you can meet people that show you that you can live and be successful in the field and paid internships are examples of good practices that motivate people to work in the sector. Paid training and reskilling programmes would reduce the shortage of skilled workers. With the effort put in gathering skills, seeing the field being promoted, and other people being interested in the profession we would also solve the problem of loyalty and make the jobs even more fulfilling.

Digitalisation can also be a useful tool. With the recent rise of technology and digitalisation, we are presented with a new and innovative way on how to reduce the effects of the labour shortage. Since the currently available computers and programs are already advanced enough to work instead of humans, they present an immediate solution to the problem. Of course, we would have to be careful how far we could digitalise the workforce.  For example, the digitalisation would be helpful at receptions, and in all aspects, where the lack human contact is not damaging and would not endanger the guest's experience, but could even help to improve it, since it could mask the effects of staff shortages, for example by reducing the lines while checking in and out or helping to take orders. Technology can also help with organisation and work efficiency, which in turn decreases the need for more workers.

We firmly believe that the crucial thing is finding the right balance between technology and humans. Achieving that could also play a big part in finding the solution for labour shortages.

DIGITALISATION IN TOURISM

In the rising age of digitalization, the world is adapting. People are leaning toward modern technology more and more, incorporating their phones, tablets, and computers into their everyday lives. Humanity is coming to a point where setting up a digital platform and collecting and analysing data is surprisingly easy, efficient, and cheap. But as we use apps and digital tools more and more for every task we have to realise that many jobs are starting to be replaceable. Many tasks that needed significant human effort before are becoming just a matter of one click, which is putting many jobs in danger. But what is going to happen in the hospitality sector? Are people, the backbone of the otherwise social hospitality sector replaceable? Are people going to stay at hotels without staff or restaurants without servants?

The prevalent opinion is that the hospitality sector is here to stay. Staff in tourism are irreplaceable by machines because the uniqueness and the friendliness of people are unmatched when compared to machines and AI. People need social contact when they stay at hotels and eat in restaurants. This is true for all staff, from an animator to a chef. But for the ease of use and improvement, the hospitality sector should not look down on technology but rather walk hand in hand with the age of digitalization for the mutual benefit of customers and employees.

Although futuristic restaurants with automated services are a niche product, that attracts a lot of people, the core of the hospitality industry is here to stay. Meeting a receptionist at your entrance is a feeling of itself, that many adore. Changing to digital check-in is still always an option to employ less or relieve hardworking staff. But the receptionist remains. Instead of waiting while the receptionist is handling your check-in and the long process of checking the documentation, the guest can for example already ask the staff for advice or get to know their destination better. In that sense, a machine will never replace a warm welcome and a tip that the staff gives guests for places to visit.

But the involvement of technology can start long before a guest can book a room. From marketing purposes to making an appealing and useful website, hotels and restaurants have to adapt to the new market and create a browsing experience of their own. Although prevalent in many places, reservation for specific rooms, meals, wellness programs, and guides is still not available on many hotel websites. This is an aspect in which hotels can cater to more guests more quickly, and efficiently. Thus, websites and even special apps should therefore also stay in the vision of hotel management.

When it comes to a guest's experience in a hotel, management should not be afraid to experiment with digital management tools that improve the communication and efficiency of the staff. From knowing which rooms must be cleaned to knowing precisely how many meals should be prepared, apps and digital portals can help with the coordination of the staff.

An aspect of this approach is also allowing the guests to tailor their own experience digitally. From communicating with room service to ordering fresh towels or hygiene products to controlling the heating and cooling of the room or an apartment, there are many ways an app could help a guest enjoy their stay.

This approach also brings an important benefit that we see with the rising popularity of digital tools. Digital input is extremely easy to analyse and learn from in order to understand your guests' needs. From the already prevalent example of reviewing the service, we can also learn more about the guests' habits, requirements, and specifics. From learning about, how many towels guests use on average, to knowing what food they usually order, and how often they require room service, hotels can use the data for digital analysis, which improves their perspective of their guests and allows for a more tailored experience. It also helps to improve efficiency, helps with keeping the costs down, and most importantly helps reduce waste.

Joining into a rewards program is also a thing that many guests value and is easy to set up with a special app. This allows for an even more detailed view of guests' history of stay and allows room for tailored creative surprises on the guests' next stay.

In conclusion, digital tools can be a valuable asset of skills for staff in the hospitality sector. They also help guests tailor and improve their experience, ultimately giving a lot of feedback to the management. But at the same time, not all guests value digital tools, and not all are willing or capable of using them. Therefore, creating a front with a digital and traditional option should always be a priority of most businesses in the hospitality sector, allowing the heart of the industry - the guests two ultimately decide if they want a digital experience or not.

GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Green tourism or also named ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible/sustainable travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. The main purpose of green tourism is to educate the travellers, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities and to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.

Nowadays green tourism is becoming a vastly growing trend. Together with awareness of people and travellers about their own contribution to the environment, green tourism will expand drastically. Furthermore, it must vastly evolve so Europe can achieve carbon neutral goals set for year 2050.

1. Unique “green logo” would improve the awareness of people.

All restaurants and hotels should be mandatory tested by government inspectors for a “green logo” certificate. Logo would help people choose greener tourism. Restaurants/Hotels would “fight” for a logo which would also bring them new customers. Nowadays tourists hardly travel sustainable, also named “Green”, because there is a lack of awareness in the tourism sector for sustainability.

2. Hotels/Restaurants should have solar panels if possible.

Nowadays Hotels are using more and more energy because of higher demand such as heating, cooling, IT, etc… Electricity from our grid system is currently far from being green. Furthermore, power plants powered by fossil fuels are destroying our environment. Therefore, installing solar panels on Hotels would highly reduce emissions produced by power plants. Furthermore, long term solar panels would be cheaper alternatives to hotels because of the energy crisis that is currently facing Europe.

3. Plastic is destroying the environment therefore we should lower usage by taxing it higher and mandatory recycle/reuse it.

Much of the plastic used in tourism is made to be thrown away and often can't be recycled, leading to large amounts of pollution. In tourism, even small changes such as banning single use shampoo and other cosmetics bottles would make a big change in the amount of trash produced by tourism. Furthermore, plastic is used in almost all things therefore we should say no to disposable plastic cutlery, plastic straws and other single-use plastics. We should avoid plastics that cannot be recycled if other alternatives exist as well as avoid products with excess or unnecessary plastic packaging. Tourism and all other sectors should adopt reusable items such as water bottles, shopping bags, keep cups and travel cutlery.

4. People are using too many personal cars. Therefore, we should improve international public transport such as high-speed trains.

Public transport is one of the “greenest” choices of transport.

Trains, metros, trams which are mostly powered by electricity should be better improved and connected with counties so tourists could also use low carbon transport to fulfil green tourism needs.  Improving connectivity between countries and making public transport faster is key to attract more tourists and of course all other people.

5. Leftover food shouldn't be thrown away. Instead, it should be used as food for animals or in other efficient ways.

When it comes to consumption of food in the value chain, the tourism industry is a key industry to fight against this problem. Food waste is one of the biggest problems. Each year, a third of all food produced is wasted. This equals approximately 1.3 billion tons of food. Many solutions can be implemented to deal with these problem such as:

·       incorporate a tracking system

·       compost green waste

·       increase staff awareness and involvement…

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Za VSGT Maribor je bil ta dogodek prvi večji mednarodni dogodek v sklopu praznovanja prihajajoče 25. obletnice delovanja. VSGT bo med aprilom 2023 ter junijem 2024 v obeležitev 25. obletnice delovanja šole, ki je bila ustanovljena leta 1998, prve študente pa sprejela leta 1999, izvedla 25 dogodkov.

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