Hospitality & Tourism

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Why it works

Hospitality and tourism is one of the largest global industries, and as a career and technical education field it prepares students for a wide range of careers (event planning, lodging, food service management, travel and tourism, recreation). Strong programs combine professional skills (customer service, communication, professionalism), business and operations knowledge (management, marketing, finance in a hospitality context), and authentic, hands-on and work-based learning, with industry certifications and real career connections. Teaching it well means building genuine professional and business competencies through applied experience, not just surveying the industry.

The research: CTE and hospitality education standards.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: teach professional and business competencies

Teachers leave with a unit building professional skills, business knowledge, and careers.

Pick a hospitality or tourism topic or unit.
Build professional and customer-service skills.
Teach the relevant business and operations knowledge.
Use hands-on and work-based learning, and connect to real careers.

Professional skills and real experienceHospitality and tourism education builds professional, customer-service, and business competencies through authentic, hands-on learning, and connects to a vast career field.

Facilitator notes

Build professional and customer-service skills.
Teach business and operations, and use hands-on and work-based learning.
Connect to careers.

Surveying the industry is not building competenciesCovering the field without building genuine professional and business skills through applied experience undersells hospitality education. Make it hands-on and competency-based.

Adapt it

Middle school: exploration, service skills, careers.
High school: professional and business skills, certifications, work-based learning.
All settings: professional skills, business knowledge, hands-on, careers.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Hospitality & Tourism: competencies and careers

A vast career field: professional and customer-service skills, business knowledge, and hands-on, work-based learning.

The hospitality or tourism topic or unit:
The professional and customer-service skills I build:
The business and operations knowledge I teach:
The hands-on and work-based learning:
The career connections:

Make it stick

Competencies and careers:

Build professional and business competencies.
Use hands-on learning.
Bring a hospitality lesson to the next PLC.

Common questions

What does hospitality and tourism education cover?

Professional and customer-service skills, business and operations knowledge (management, marketing, finance in a hospitality context), and the many careers, event planning, lodging, food service, travel, recreation.

What makes a strong program?

Genuine professional and business competencies built through authentic, hands-on and work-based learning, with industry certifications and real career connections, not just a survey of the industry.

Is this a big career field?

Hospitality and tourism is one of the largest global industries, with a wide range of career paths at many levels. The education opens many doors.