Is the Sharing Economy Making it Easier to Teach Hospitality and Tourism?
Skift Take
The sharing economy may breed a few small entrepreneurs, but it doesn't have much use for professionals. In this world, everyone is an independent contractor.
Hospitality and tourism students enter a post-academic life in a variety of careers and locations. And no matter where they are, the sharing economy will find them.
Hospitality programs don’t instruct students how to be “sharing economy hosts,” but with the rise of sites such as Airbnb, students enter a field where travelers have a growing choice of where to stay and what kind of guest experience they want.
The dilemma universities face is how to explain these landscape changes to students, if at all. And the type of career Airbnb could offer a hospitality or tourism graduate today is unclear, says Haemoon Oh, the department head of University of Massachusetts Amherst’s hospitality school.
“The sharing economy segment has not matured enough to accommodate our graduates,” said Oh.
“Though the sharing economy
