MENTORING – effective tourism development tool?

Over the past six decades, tourism has become one of the largest and fastest-growing economic sectors in the world. The industry has experienced continued expansion and diversification and due to its potential to contribute towards employment and economic growth, as well as to development in rural, peripheral or less-developed areas, tourism has become one of the most important economic sectors in most EU countries.

However, the differences among the services provided by the subjects operating in the sector in EU countries are enormous. If the HLTT sector is defined as both “established” and as a “growth” sector within the UK’s economy, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia still lag behind their potential.
Tourism can be described as a cross-sector industry that includes a lot of diversified services provided by a wide range of actors. According to the UNWTO, the tourism sector, as contemplated in the TSA, is the cluster of production units in different industries that provide consumption goods and services demanded by visitors, such as accommodation, food and beverage serving activities, transport, travel agencies, cultural, sport and recreational activities, retail trade of country-specific tourism characteristic goods and other country specific tourism characteristic activities.

Based on this, human resources and their level of education play an important and irreplaceable role in the development of the HLTT sector. This factor is becoming particularly important in terms of current unfavourable demographic development and the gradual aging of the population.
Considering the cross-sector nature of the HLTT industry, jobs in the labour market are available not only for graduates in tourism-oriented studies (e.g. hotel academy, tourism, tourism services, cook, waiter), but also those completing studies related to tourism, e.g. economics, trade and business.
Furthermore, as the HLTT sector is dominated by small and medium size enterprises (SME), there are even more specific features to be considered. It is necessary to bear in mind that even though the formality of training and business planning is not as developed in SMEs as in larger establishments, this does not necessarily mean that training does not take place, but rather that informal training takes on particular importance for SMEs.
As mentoring – mutual learning and sharing of experience – has been acknowledged as one of the most powerful tools in career development, it seems to be the proper tool to address specific needs of a country’s HLTT sector.

In the UK, mentoring has long been recognised as a means of career development, management skills development, conflict resolution, improvement of soft skills, general personal/professional development. On the other hand, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania are definitely not so familiar with the mentoring yet. In order to give recommendations to designing and establishing of national and elaborated mentoring programme for businesses active in tourism, the aspects needed to be considered include VET system needs, Labour market needs, the existing training offer

Tourism development strategies in the UK, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia
Recently, the policy makers at the National level of each EU country started to reconsider tourism as a priority policy and as a field of new development. Strategies focused on the development of the HLTT sector were identified in each of the analysed countries and the legislation in the field is mainly adapted and in line with EU policies and values, initiated, coordinated and implemented by national authorities.

As result, the UK HLTT sector has made appreciable progress over recent years. The improvement of the sector performance was achieved by simplifying the number of qualifications on offer (reducing the overall number by 50% from around 500 to 250), creating clearer career paths across the sector, introducing new apprenticeships, and expanding the number of participants or developing new customer service qualifications, and launching a new welcome campaign. Hence, more employers are providing training for their staff than ever before and the industry has had the highest expenditure on training per employee of any sector in the economy . This style of business support has been supported by central government, often in partnerships with banks and other private large enterprises.

Despite the remarkable achievements, there are still opportunities to make the sector more productive, competitive and profitable. According to the UK’s Government Tourism policy  , as expectations are so high, the behaviours, personality and skills of staff and management in some firms aren’t always good enough to deliver a high-quality professional experience for guests whether domestic or international. The improvement of management and leadership skills is also essential to enable individual firms to grasp every opportunity that’s available and deliver higher rates of growth successfully.

When it comes to tourism development strategies in Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia, these seem to be rather vague and do not address the full range of issues associated with the development of the industry. There were no specific education strategies in tourism industry identified, whether on the national or regional level. The policy makers’ approach to tourism-related education seems to be reserved due to the fact that tourism specialists are imagined as hotel, catering, and tourism agencies workers that do not require university education. Available trainings are mainly theoretical, human resources development and training programs are often implemented ad hoc, with specific programs for different activities to prevent the most pressing needs in industry field.

What hinders the growth of the tourism industry?

As mentioned before, the needs of a country’s HLTT industry that need to be considered when planning a VET system or capacities developing training, can be very specific. In case of Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia these problems include low staff retention and the instability of the job, drain of skilled workers, the lack of one constant lifelong learning training on-the-job or vocational education and training (VET) system providing theoretical education as well practical experience. VET systems in tourism often lack contact with the labour market. The practical training of graduates is rather poor; therefore practical skills of newcomers in the tourism sector are insufficient. The skills that employees lack most include foreign languages, communication with customers and IT skills as well as service culture.

In the UK, on the other hand, many employees in the HLTT sector are not indigenous to the UK, coming as migrant labour and starting their careers in this sector. Another feature of the HLTT sector in the UK is a gender imbalance when it comes to promotion. And although there seem to be a career path, employees find that the scope is rather limited.

Thus, one of the challenges facing the sector employers is the attraction of qualified employees to the sector and retaining them. In addition to the requirement of quality graduates, the tourism development needs professional training of employees who are and/or will get engaged in the field of tourism.

While large corporations, particularly in the hospitality sector, provide development opportunities for their members of staff, the situation is very different when it comes from SMEs. Taking into account that the HLTT sector is dominated by SMEs, the need of a cost-effective means of additional training becomes even more important.

Best practise in the mentor development training

Besides the official initiatives, there are also non-formal possibilities of building capacities on offer. As for mentor development trainings, most learning opportunities could be identified in the UK, and this would produce a lengthy list. European Quality Frameworks (EQF) – referenced courses are on offer as part of university degree programs, at Further Education colleges, and through private training providers. Competences of mentors were set up in “Code of Ethics” of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC), which has been established to promote best practice and ensure that the highest possible standards are maintained in the coach/mentoring relationship, whatever form that might take, so that the coach/mentoring environment provides the greatest opportunity for learning and development.
The most effective learning path for mentors, irrespective of sector, is a combination of training (both online and offline), peer learning and supervision for feedback purposes. Training for Mentors can take from a minimum of half a day to two days. One day training would be the most appropriate as long as it is followed by regular peer learning support and, where available, supervision by a senior mentor/coach or mentoring co-ordinator. It would be advisable to choose a mentoring course leading to certification as this will invariably require testing mentors’ skills and attributes.

Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania, on the other hand, are definitely not so familiar with the mentorship, mostly in the tourism field. There are some timid beginnings in initiatives like EU cooperation in one-theme projects or mobilities in the field, for better exchanging knowledge and improving skills. There were no European Qualification Frameworks identified in Lithuania, Slovakia and Romania either, that would recognise the mentor’s professional profile and it is very difficult to find some training programmes for mentors in HLTT sector.

The next step
According to demographic prognosis the number of the secondary and higher education graduates will be continually decreasing. If the tourism industry is to provide high quality services it is necessary not only to attract qualified employees and retain them, but also to enable and promote additional training of the existing capacities.
As improving of the HLTT industry requires constant and flexible adaptation to new conditions, SMEs in general become more interested in effective ways of training, responsive to their requirements where providers can understand the context and markets in which they operate. While wide offer of effective VET systems providing theoretical as well as practical experience seem to be a must, designing and establishing of certificated non-formal learning opportunities should be the next step.
Taking into account the specific features of the HLTT sector, mentoring seems to be a suitable tool to address the needs of the sector. However, as in any other profession, it is very important for a mentor to be educated and to have obtained specialization in the field approached for mentoring.
Within the EU, there are only a few countries that have EQF-referenced qualifications that progress candidates towards a national industry standard of competence. In Lithuania, Slovakia and Romania there were no European Qualification Frameworks identified, and it is very difficult to find some training programmes for mentors in the HLTT sector. Thus, in order to encourage these countries´ HLTT industry developments, it would be recommended to establish national training programme introducing the highest possible standards in the mentor training programmes. A great opportunity to enhance the development of life-long learning programs is to participate in international projects such as EU Tourism Mentoring under the ERASMUS+ Program, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices among the ERASMUS+ program countries.  

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