This is the fifth and final post in a series exploring what 170 tourism SMEs across Europe reported in RESKILL survey about skills, training, and the future of work in hospitality.
Over the past four posts in this series, we’ve shared what European tourism employers told us about their workforce challenges. Now it’s time to bring it together and show how RESKILL is designed to respond.
What We Heard
Four insights stood out from the survey of 170 tourism SMEs across Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain:
1. The talent crisis is real — and it’s not just about money. “Lack of qualified candidates” was mentioned 93 times as a recruitment barrier. Salary mismatch came second with 58. Employers aren’t only saying they can’t afford people. They’re saying they can’t find people with the right capabilities.
2. One skill matters everywhere: service design thinking. Rated #1 in all six countries. Not just friendliness or task execution — but understanding the whole customer experience. The little details between the processes. A worldview, not just a skill.
3. Green practices are ahead of green skills. 94% of businesses are implementing sustainability measures. Yet green skills rated lowest among skill categories. Businesses are doing sustainability tactically, without the capability layer to do it strategically.
4. Time is the real training barrier. 89 mentions of time constraints. 47 for cost. Traditional training formats assume time that small tourism businesses don’t have. If learning doesn’t fit into operational reality, it doesn’t happen.
The Common Thread
Interestingly enough we can be bold here and say that what we identified are not separate streams, but intertwined tangle of connected issues.
Employers can’t find people with the right skills. The skills they need most — service design thinking, adaptability, green competence — are developed through experience and guidance, not just classroom learning. But businesses don’t have time for traditional training. And they’re growing, which makes the time pressure worse.
It’s a system stuck in a loop: need skills → can’t train → can’t find skills → need skills.
How to break the loop? Now that is a question!
How RESKILL Responds
RESKILL is all about testing a hands-on approach to start bridging the gap. Our mission is to address the identified issues with pragmatic and actionable steps.
We study. We analyse. We explore new ways that emerge from understanding the realities of business owners and the talent they’re trying to find and develop.
Micro-learning for operational reality Short modules. Practical content. Formats that fit into quiet moments rather than requiring days away from work. Designed for people who can’t pause their jobs to learn.
Mentorship that develops the practitioner art Content alone doesn’t build a service design worldview. That comes from guidance — experienced practitioners helping newer workers see what they’re not yet seeing. RESKILL is exploring how to build mentorship into the model, connecting learners with people who already think this way.
Peer-to-peer support across borders Learning from colleagues facing similar challenges. Sharing what works. Building networks that extend beyond a single workplace or country. The European dimension of RESKILL isn’t just geography — it’s access to a wider community of practice.
Green skills that build on what’s already happening Not convincing businesses to care about sustainability — they already do. Helping them get better at it. Moving from tactical actions to embedded capability.
A Recovering Sector, Ready to Grow
Throughout this series, we’ve noted the context: over half the businesses we surveyed have fully recovered or are actively growing post-pandemic.
This isn’t a sector in survival mode. It’s a sector hitting growth constraints. The skills gap isn’t a background issue — it’s the ceiling.
RESKILL is designed to help raise that ceiling. Not by adding more burden to already stretched businesses, but by working with the grain of how they actually operate.
What Comes Next
We’re now moving from research to action.
The survey insights are shaping the content and format of what we build. The platform is in development. The mentorship model is taking shape. Pilots are on the horizon.
If you’re an employer, a training provider, a policymaker, or someone working in tourism and hospitality — we’d like you to be part of what comes next.
This is Reskill Revolution. And it starts now.
Stay connected
→ Follow RESKILL on LinkedIn for updates → Sign up to our newsletter for platform launch news → Get in touch if you’re interested in collaborating or piloting
The RESKILL project (Reskill Revolution: Pioneering Change in Adult Education) is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme. This blog series is based on survey data from Work Package 2, with responses from tourism SMEs in Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain.
