Competence needs in Aveiro: the voice of Tourism

Interviews carried out by the Labour Observatory had the aim of identifying the priorities of digital competences in Aveiro and the perception of the companies about the regional availability of those competences, mean by the difficulty or easiness that the organizations of the three sectors involved (ITCE - Information Technology, Communication and Electronics, Industry and Tourism) point out when looking for those competences in the region.

In the Tourism sector, the entities surveyed pointed out a great opportunity in digitalization. According to the interviewees, there are few professionals dedicated exclusively to the areas of digitization, and it is necessary to develop digital competences in the technicians of the sector, in order to carry out the tasks in this area. These competences include the technical competences of digital marketing, management of online booking platforms, data processing in business intelligence and/or analytical platforms, competences associated with Big Data and digital competences in the use of internal process management platforms and information systems.

From the point of view of transversal competences, the representatives of Tourism surveyed, considered as most important the polyvalence and emotional intelligence, followed by customer orientation and commercial competences, sales vision, negotiation and conflict management, working methods (operational efficiency), the taste for learning, responsibility, and proactivity, as well as what they mention as “Do your best for the company" .

Given the limitations mentioned in the regional supply of professionals with digital competences in the sector, those pointed out as necessary were also mentioned as difficult to find, so it is urgent to offer adequate training to the workers of the Tourism andServices companies in Aveiro. 

Figure 1 - Ranking of the most relevant technical competences for the Tourism of the Aveiro market

Source: Adapted from the Report on the Identification of Gaps and Qualification Priorities in the Context of Digital Transformation (2020)