The development of geographical differences in education levels within the Swedish tourism industry

ABSTRACT

The nexus of workforce and destination development is a largely uncharted area within tourism research. The local human capital has above all been in focus when underlining tourism's potential to create employment even for the inexperienced and less educated. However, a discordant strand of theory holds the low levels of qualified knowledge within the industry responsible for absent destination development in areas struggling to develop competitive advantages. Additionally, the in-migration of a skilled workforce may be hampered by a lack of amenities attracting permanent residents. In order to explore whether the tourism sector is characterized by a less educated share of the workforce, a study was performed using micro-level data on the full working population of Sweden during the years 2000–2010. The workforce in tourism was compared to the total and two other low-skill sectors, and the results show that the educational aspects within tourism are more related to geography than economic sectors. Contrary to general presumptions, the workforce within the tourism sector has a higher level of formal education than the other selected sectors in regions with generally low educational levels. The implication is thus that strategies aimed at creating employment for the least educated in rural areas need to be reconsidered, and not unconditionally target the tourism sector. Above all, tourism development needs to be based on assessments of local preconditions rather than a generalized image.

摘要

劳动力与目的地发展的关系是旅游研究中鲜有报道的议题。当我们强调旅游业为非熟练和低度教育人口创造就业机会的潜力时, 首先考虑的就是当地人力资本。但是, 有一条不一致的理论线索认为, 对那些努力培育竞争优势的地区, 旅游业内劳动力低度的知识水平造成目的地发展动力不足。另外, 之所以难以吸引熟练劳动力是由于目的地缺少吸引熟练劳动力永久居住的舒适环境。为了探讨旅游业劳动力是否具有受教育较低的特征, 本研究利用瑞典2000至2010年全体就业人口的微观数据, 比较旅游业劳动力与就业人口总体和其他两个低技能部门劳动力的教育水平差异。结果显示, 旅游业劳动力教育水平更多地与就业地区有关, 而不是与经济部门有关。与一般的推测不同, 在总体上受教育水平较低的地区, 旅游部门劳动力受教育水平高于另两个所选部门的劳动力受教育水平。因此, 本研究的启示意义是在为乡村地区低教育人口创造就业机会时就要重新考虑产业策略, 而不一定要瞄准旅游部门。旅游发展决策需要首先评估当地的先决条件, 而不是根据一般印象做出。

KEYWORDS:

• Sweden
• education
• knowledge
• destination development
• workforce
• labour geography

关键词:

• 瑞典
• 教育
• 知识
• 目的地发展
• 劳动力
• 劳工地理学

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kajsa G. Åberg

Kajsa G. Åberg holds a PhD degree in social and economic geography from Umeå University and works today as a tourism strategist at the cooperative public body Region Västerbotten Turism. The work presented in this article is part of her thesis work, which is on the relationship of education and tourism development.

Dieter K. Müller

Dieter K. Müller is professor of social and economic geography at Umeå University and Chairperson of the IGU Commission for the Geography of Tourism, Leisure and Global Change. His research interests mainly relate to tourism development in northern sparsely populated areas and second home tourism.