BIAD: building the skills tourism and hospitality need for tomorrow

Tourism and hospitality are undergoing rapid change. Digital technologies are reshaping professional practices, artificial intelligence is creating new possibilities and new questions, visitor expectations are evolving, and businesses and destinations are being asked to respond simultaneously to innovation and sustainability challenges. These transformations are also changing the skills required across the sector.

This is the context behind BIAD – AI-Enabled Skill-Building for Tourism and Hospitality: Bridging the Industry-Academia Divide, an Erasmus+ Alliance for Innovation bringing together universities, vocational education and training organisations, chambers of commerce, innovation actors and organisations working directly with the tourism and hospitality sector.

At the heart of BIAD is one central objective: to reduce the gap between the skills provided through education and training and the actual needs of tourism and related sectors. To achieve this, the project combines research, cooperation with professionals, curriculum development, digital learning tools and experimentation in real working environments.

Starting with the needs of the sector

BIAD does not begin by designing training courses. It begins by asking what the sector actually needs.

During the first phase of the project, partners analyse the needs of target groups, identify the skills that need to be strengthened and involve stakeholders directly in the process. Tourism professionals, businesses, trainers, students and other sector actors contribute through research, consultations, workshops, interviews and focus groups. D6.1_BIAD Communication Strateg…

This approach is intended to ensure that the solutions developed by BIAD are connected to the realities of tourism and hospitality organisations rather than based solely on assumptions about future skills.

Digital competencies and artificial intelligence are central to this analysis, alongside innovation, sustainability and the broader evolution of professional roles within the sector.

Turning skills needs into learning solutions

Once these needs have been identified, BIAD will translate them into concrete educational resources.

Over its three-year duration, the project will develop training modules addressing digital skills, artificial intelligence and innovation in tourism and hospitality, alongside pedagogical resources and online learning tools. The project also includes approaches to skills validation and micro-certification, as well as a digital platform through which learning resources can be accessed and disseminated. BIAD_Presentation_FR.docx

The objective is therefore not simply to describe how tourism jobs are changing. BIAD aims to turn this knowledge into learning opportunities that can be used by students, professionals, teachers and trainers, SMEs and other organisations operating within the tourism ecosystem.

Bridging education and professional practice

The “industry-academia divide” in the project’s title is central to the BIAD approach.

The project creates a framework for cooperation between higher education institutions, vocational education and training providers, businesses and other economic stakeholders. Rather than developing educational content independently from the sector, BIAD seeks to involve professional actors throughout the process: from identifying needs to designing, testing and improving the solutions.

This cooperation should also make it possible to share concrete models of collaboration between education and the professional sector that can be reproduced beyond the consortium.

Testing before scaling up

Another important objective of BIAD is to ensure that the resources developed work in practice.

Workshops, field experiments and pilot training activities involving professionals, students and partner organisations are built into the project. During the second phase, the curriculum and e-learning platform will be tested with selected users so that their feedback can be used to refine both the content and the systems developed.

Participants are therefore not considered only as final beneficiaries. Their experience and feedback are part of the development process itself.

Supporting the digital and sustainable transition

BIAD also addresses skills development within a broader transformation of tourism.

The project aims to raise awareness of the implications of the digital and ecological transitions, including the impact of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies on professional practices. At the same time, it promotes innovative approaches to learning and encourages sustainable and responsible practices within tourism and hospitality organisations.

BIAD therefore connects technological innovation with a wider question: what skills will professionals need to navigate the tourism sector of tomorrow?

The project’s communication framework reflects this ambition through four core messages: strengthening the skills needed to respond to sectoral change, developing innovative training solutions incorporating new technologies such as AI, contributing to more sustainable, responsible and inclusive tourism, and reinforcing cooperation between education, training and economic stakeholders.

From analysis to European uptake

BIAD has been structured as a progressive three-year process.

Year 1 focuses on understanding needs and designing solutions: analysing target audiences, identifying skills, engaging stakeholders and establishing the curriculum framework.

Year 2 moves into development and experimentation: educational content and the e-learning platform are developed, followed by pilot implementation and initial evaluation.

Year 3 focuses on wider deployment: the resources are scaled up, promoted to broader European audiences and prepared for continued use beyond the initial project period.

This progression – from evidence, to design, to testing, to wider adoption – is intended to ensure that BIAD produces resources that are not only innovative but also relevant to the people and organisations expected to use them.

Ultimately, BIAD seeks to build stronger connections between skills, education and professional practice, while giving tourism and hospitality actors practical tools to respond to digital transformation, artificial intelligence, sustainability and changing labour-market needs.