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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Having a strong affinity and interdependence with a wide range of sectors and industries, tourism is, by nature, an
interdisciplinary field. However, despite this realization, there are still different barriers to the development of
interdisciplinary research and active collaborative projects within Tourism Higher Education. In addition to these barriers,
there is also a disarticulation between tourism curricula and what practitioners perceive as being key skills within the
industry. Hence, as the context in which the tourist activity takes place becomes more competitive, resulting in a pressing
need for skilled and multifaceted professionals, educational institutions and tourism educators are increasingly being
challenged to overcome these barriers and come up with creative projects that can help bridge the gap between academia
and the labour market. Aiming to describe an interdisciplinary project focusing on soft skills within different tourism
subsectors, this paper will draw on a literature review, project outputs and two questionnaires, as to describe its
implementation and overall results. Mostly based on students’ perceptions and determining whether they are aligned with
the industry’s current demands and expectations, in addition to a general description, it will crosscut different perspectives,
analysing the importance attributed to soft skills by students and prospective employers. Deriving from this analysis and the
project’s scope, the authors will also put forward a reflection regarding the impact of the project on not only student’s
perceptions regarding soft skills, but also on the affordances of the project to develop transversal competences, making a
case for other innovative initiatives. As a result, the final section of the paper will include references to lessons learnt and
future research directions.
Description
Keywords
Collaboration Higher education Hospitality Interdisciplinarity Soft skills Tourism
Citation
Publisher
Academic Conferences International Limited