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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Recently, much due to the growth of the industry, tourism professionals are increasingly being
challenged to develop new skills and adapt to dynamic markets, requiring them to be flexible, creative
and, particularly after the recent COVID-19 pandemic, resilient. Mirroring these changes, Higher
Education Institutions (HEI), and more specifically Tourism Higher Education (THE), are increasingly
becoming aware of the need to rethink and further expand their programs, not only to make them more
diverse and inclusive, but also meet current demands, particularly concerning the development of
tourism graduates’ soft skills.
Focusing on a project carried out at the School of Hospitality and Tourism (Vila do Conde, Portugal),
this paper aims to describe an innovative interdisciplinary approach that combines academic and
technical knowledge with the development of (inter)personal transferable skills, by challenging students
to complete a collaborative assignment on different industry subsectors.
Involving five different courses and facilitators, this assignment followed a Project-based Approach
(PbL), having challenged students to carry out field work to collect stakeholders’ perceptions on what
they considered to be the most important soft skills within the industry, most particularly in the
Entertainment/Events, Travel Agencies/Tour Operators, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO)
and Accommodation subsectors. Framed by a literature review, the data and ensuing analysis were
compiled and put forward in a short paper, that was publicly presented and discussed. Working in groups
of 3 to 6 members, students conducted a total of 45 interviews, which resulted in 13 short papers, all of
which identifying key soft skills and reflecting on how they can be developed.
In addition to describing the rationale behind the project and its implementation, this paper will address
the affordances and potential of interdisciplinarity in tourism education, not only by reflecting on the
project’s outcomes, but also on participants’ expectations and final perceptions. Drawing from two
questionnaires and unstructured observation, it is, therefore, expected to further advance recent
research in innovative practices in Tourism Education, as well as provide other educators a case study
that can support similar initiatives and projects.
Description
Keywords
Interdisciplinarity Tourism higher education Project-based learning Soft skills Portugal
Citation
Publisher
IATED