Current discourses on tourism employment: Perspectives from the Finnish tourism sector

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the changes in the business environment, such as technological developments, have transformed tourism employment. Simultaneously, the complexities of tourism employment and workforce input have been overlooked in tourism research. This study aims to increase overall understanding of how tourism companies and their workforce see the present main discourses of employment together with its challenges and solutions. The context of the study is a niche tourism destination in Northern Europe, Finland where micro-size companies dominate the sector. In this qualitative research, data consisted of ten semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis was performed to capture the attached patterned meanings. The findings confirm that tourism employment has different nuances in different contexts with attracting and retaining a skilled workforce as the major concern. Employing people with specialist skills and upskilling are the key issues strongly interlinked with business growth, competitiveness, and renewal. Business and product development, establishing work ecosystems, innovative means of promoting vacancies in collaboration with authorities, and developing an inclusive organisational culture are suggested as the main solutions to approach employment challenges.