Service sector re-orientation : transferring skills from the tourism sector

Although the number of tourists resuming travel seems to be on the rise globally and in some of the countries of relevance to this study it is slowly increasing again, it is difficult to predict when - or indeed if - it shall rebound to pre-pandemic levels. This will depend not only on the pace of vaccination programmes both in origin and destination countries, but also the protective measures and incentives put in place by governments in the ARLEM Mediterranean partner countries. At the same time, despite this uncertain outlook for the tourism sector as well difficulties in providing training related to the necessity to move trainings online amid the pandemic-induced lockdowns, it appears that prospective candidates have not been discouraged from pursuing education suited for work in the tourism sector. Indeed, in Morocco for instance, the number of students who registered for courses at ISITT increased by over 10% for the academic year 2020-2021 compared to the year before. As it seems, initiatives aimed at helping (former) tourism sector employees into other sectors should also contain a component of within-the-sector transfers and harnessing opportunities related to the development of new trends in the tourism sector such as virtual tourism, ecotourism, and sustainable tourism.