Once upon a time, travel jobs were about passports, people, and the pleasant chaos of airports. These days, the hum of conversation in hotel lobbies is increasingly replaced by the quiet confidence of machines. Artificial intelligence has moved from the boardroom slide deck to the front desk, and according to a significant new study by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the change is only beginning.
But as algorithms take their seats in the workforce, an awkward question lingers: where are all the humans? More precisely, where is Generation Z, the supposedly restless, tech-savvy group that should lead the charge?
According to WTTC’s The Future of Work in Travel & Tourism report, global employment in the sector hit 357 million jobs in 2024, yet the industry is already facing a 43 million-person shortfall by 2035.
The reason isn’t a lack of aircraft or ambition but a shrinking pool of willing workers. And nowhere is that gap more glaring than among the under-30s.
The Industry Gen Z Won’t Board
For decades, travel and tourism were rites of passage, where young people cut their professional teeth while seeing the world. But the WTTC’s findings reveal a generational cold shoulder. In 2024, just 15.7 per cent of all tourism jobs were held by those aged 15–24, slightly higher than the global average but nowhere near enough to fill demand.
It seems that today’s school leavers and graduates are less enthralled by the glamour of check-ins and cocktails. They want flexibility, purpose, and a better work-life balance, which the tourism sector struggles to provide with its long shifts and unpredictable rosters.
“Many under 30s aren’t prepared to tolerate the intense and irregular hours that are part of the industry,” the WTTC report observes. “They’re more likely to prioritise flexibility than previous generations.”
In other words, it’s hard to sell the romance of hospitality to a generation that values sleep.
AI Won’t Replace You – But It Might Replace Your Colleague
While Generation Z swipes left on customer-facing roles, Artificial Intelligence is quietly rewriting the job description. The WTTC’s interviews paint a sector poised between optimism and anxiety.
“AI won’t replace your job, but it’s the person who understands how to apply it who may have the upper hand,”
Marsha Walden, President & CEO, Destination Canada
It’s a sentiment echoed across the industry. The Miles Partnership’s Vice-President of AI, C. A. Clark, put it bluntly:
“The real opportunity lies in helping teams work smarter. The greatest impact will come from organisations that empower staff to reimagine how they work.”
This is the paradox facing tourism. AI promises to ease workloads and elevate guest experience, from virtual-reality hotel tours to automated translation tools, yet its march into everyday operations exposes an ill-equipped workforce.
The WTTC identifies technological and digital literacy as the most significant skills gap. While the tools exist, the know-how lags behind. As one executive said, “We’ve plenty of tablets, just not enough people who know what button to press.”
The Ageing Desk Clerk and the Missing Trainee
Across Europe and parts of Asia, an ageing workforce compounds the challenge. Countries like Japan, Greece, and Germany are projected to have labour supplies up to 29 per cent below demand by 2035
That shortage is especially dire in hospitality, a sector expected to fall short by 8.6 million workers, an 18 per cent gap. Chefs, waiters, and maintenance engineers are already on the endangered list.
“Recruiting chefs is so competitive,” admits Gina Fleming, Senior Director of Learning and Development at Royal Caribbean. “We’re partnering with chef schools to build a pipeline.”
The WTTC says the industry desperately needs pipelines, not only culinary ones but also educational ones. The report urges governments and universities to expand tourism qualifications, offer free or subsidised training, and make lifelong learning a cultural norm.
That might sound familiar to anyone watching the current squeeze on skilled visas and hospitality apprenticeships in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, accommodation and food services remain among the nation’s most understaffed industries despite record traveller numbers.
AI’s Double-Edged Passport
There’s a growing awareness that technology could solve and worsen the labour crisis. AI can automate booking, translate languages, and manage inventory; it can also deskill roles, dampen human creativity, and erode the emotional touch that defines hospitality.
The WTTC calls for balance training workers not merely to survive automation, but to harness it. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Professor Kaye Chon insists every hospitality student now studies AI and data analysis. “Those who know how to use AI will replace those who don’t,” he warns.
Meanwhile, the Indian Hotels Company has rolled out a Gen AI Virtual Assistant on its internal app to answer staff queries about policies and benefits, freeing HR teams to focus on strategy. Such tools may soon be as common in tourism as luggage tags.
But technology alone cannot fill the missing millions. As Gloria Guevara, Interim CEO of the WTTC, cautioned, “While losing millions of workers can happen in a flash, bringing them back, hiring and training them at scale is a journey.”
From Career Crisis to Cultural Shift
If the industry’s future depends on attracting young talent, it must first reinvent its image. The WTTC report reads almost like a love letter to a workforce needing romance again, calling for better wages, structured career paths, inclusive workplaces, and visible success stories.
Initiatives like the Global Travel & Tourism Partnership’s Passport to the World program and Oman’s I Am Tourism campaign are showing results. In Jamaica, the government’s Tourism Innovation Incubator is nurturing youth-led digital startups, proof that new ideas thrive when given the runway.
Still, the message to employers is clear: a free gym membership won’t fix a generational disconnect. What Gen Z craves isn’t another job, but a sense of belonging and purpose that stretches beyond a paycheck.
The Flight Path Ahead
The WTTC predicts the sector will add 91 million new jobs by 2035, representing one in three net new roles worldwide. Yet it warns that demand will outstrip supply by 16 per cent, a gap that could blunt tourism’s rebound unless addressed.
The council’s prescription is pragmatic: attract youth early, expand education pipelines, modernise workplace culture, and make AI a partner, not a predator.
For an industry built on wanderlust, the message is strikingly down-to-earth. Travel, it seems, must now sell itself as a stable, tech-enabled career, not just an escape route.
In the age of machine learning and self-service check-ins, the most significant innovation in travel may simply be rediscovering the human touch.
By Susan Ng
BIO
With the polish of an international hotel professional and the curiosity of a born storyteller, Susan Ng has worked in varied, hands-on roles at several leading hotels, which taught her the rhythms of excellent service.
She sharpened her voice off duty by writing for multiple blogs, quietly building a loyal readership. Now she’s doubling down on the craft, bringing hospitality’s real-world insights to the page with clear-eyed observations, warm humanity and a steady respect for detail.
Expect practical, unpretentious pieces and impeccably turned out, much like the best-run hotels.
