Purpose: With an industry 5.0 revolution taking place in the hospitality industry, a shift from manual to cognitive labor is anticipated, characterized by greater sustainability, resilience and a human-centric approach. In this regard, hospitality educators' ability and willingness to teach novel topics such as automation at work, upskilling of employees, man-machine interaction and service robots have become more important than ever. This study aims to interpret the perspectives of hospitality educators about bridging the gap in the employability skills of (next-gen) hospitality graduates and the concerns relating to career sustainability in times of transition.Design/methodology/approach: A case study method was used given the novelty of the topic in a developing country like India. A qualitative survey with open-ended questions, is employed to understand the viewpoints of Indian hospitality educators, including those with more than 15 years of teaching experience. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 hospitality educators to reach the theoretical saturation point. MAXQDA software was used to analyze the qualitative data collected in the study.Findings: The findings reveal the challenges and motivations of hospitality educators in adapting to frequently changing business environments. In doing so, it sheds light on the methods employed to create a generation of hospitality graduates aligned with the changing dynamics of the industry.Originality/value: The paper presents the viewpoints of hospitality educators in India in relation to a futuristic approach to next-gen employability and career sustainability. Whilst numerous studies have focused on the role of robots and artificial intelligence in replacing the human component of the service environment, the concept of people working alongside advanced technologies is fairly new and needs to be fully explored.

The present study attempts to develop a destination brand equity model for mountainous tourism destination based in a north Indian state of Uttarakhand. Brand equity research in leisure studies has been gaining increased scholarly attention, yet similar researches in Indian context are almost non-existent. This contemporary brand assessment area of enquiry has been considered in the present research by exploiting six dimensions structure including destination brand awareness, destination image, social self-image, perceived quality, perceived value and destination loyalty. Findings in particular stress on the relevance of three vital antecedents, namely, destination image, perceived value and social self-image in improving tourist loyalty. It is suggested that price benefit trade-off is duly considered for improving tourist loyalty, and the hilly attractions exhibit potential to augment tourists’ self and social images. If exploited appositely, destination image, social self-image and perceived value may engender a stronger loyalty bond between visitors and destination. With the aid of structure equation modelling, pertinent relationships rooted in the brand equity theory have been tested and few newer linkages have been uncovered and validated. The paper concludes with vital implications, limitations and scope of future research.

Tourism for its intrinsic character of people, planet and profit has been an enduring area of research for sustainable policy and practices. Planning and implementing sustainable tourism in India are largely shaped and groomed in the classrooms. Currently, over two hundred universities across the country offer tourism programs. The current study involves a two-stage process. Available literature was first summarized into items of sustainability components required of a program structure such as sustainability aspects; viz. socio-economic, environmental, and business, case study approach, interaction with stakeholders, research & practices in local settings and timely update of the syllabus. Such components in the second stage of the research formed the basis of the questionnaire used for qualitative research involving senior academics responsible for designing the syllabi. Findings present a model on the effective integration of sustainable tourism theories and practices into tourism curricula.

Originality/Value: The chapter provides strategies on the effective integration of resilient tourism policy and practices as mitigation measures into the tourism education system with a special emphasis on disaster prevention, mitigation and vulnerability reduction at the destinations in the post-COVID-19 scenario.