This research sought to establish the interdependent relationship between various factors concerning employee skills and sustainable tourism with the goal of achieving the targets set under the SDG-4. In this study, the soft and hard skills related to employability skills were the independent variables whereas sustainable tourism development was the dependent variable. The primary data were collected from 253 industry experts, including tour operators, hotel managers, travel agents, and destination marketers, offering significant perspectives on the operational intricacies and difficulties encountered within the tourism sector. Further, this research explored the importance of these factors using importance performance map analysis (IPMA). A measurement model was developed from the respondents specialized in the field of tourism. This research utilized statistical methodologies to assess the significance of various employee skills in promoting sustainable tourism. These findings demonstrate the significant impact of interpersonal, communication, competence, problem solving, and technological skills in promoting sustainable tourism. Further, it was found that competence skills had the highest importance and success in promoting sustainable tourism. These findings have significant implications for managers and stakeholders, encompassing strategic insights into workforce training, technological integration, and sustainability practices. Educational institutions should prioritize training programs that enhance the interpersonal, communication, competence, problem solving, and technology skills of their students to fulfill SDG-4. By investing in the development of these skills, educational institutions can develop a more adaptable and skilled workforce capable of promoting sustainable tourism. Novelty stems from this study’s comprehensive investigation of both soft and hard skills, yielding a holistic understanding of their collective influence. This study contributes to existing knowledge by examining the relationships between skill set requirements and the educational setup in the context of the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia.

Graduate education plays a role in improving the scope for employability of graduates. It empowers them with specialized skills, advanced knowledge, and critical thinking, which increases the scope for their employability. However, in the case of Saudi Arabia, it has been reported that there is widespread unemployment in the country. Though the Saudi Arabian government has initiated measures to nurture development in education through their ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ program, a gap exists. There are strong indictors which point at a mismatch of knowledge and skills possessed by graduates in Saudi, and the requirements of the labour market. Therefore, this paper examines the apparent gap between academia and employers in terms of employability, while focusing on whether graduate students have the same set of skills that employers require. Using a review method, information was derived from secondary sources, mainly from papers having examined the same topic previously. From the findings, academia believed that the educational system needed an overhaul and economic diversification, with the creation of new employment opportunities. Though employers believed that Saudi graduates lacked soft skills impacting their employability. It was concluded that a collaboration between students and employers was required, where employers could offer inputs supporting graduate employability.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how female empowerment mediates the relationship between Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiatives aimed at cracking the glass ceiling and the enhancement of female job involvement opportunities (FIO) in the tourism and hospitality sectors. By investigating this mediation role, the research aims to get a better understanding of the processes by which national reforms and empowerment efforts lead to increased FIO in tourism and hotels. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a descriptive method using a self-administered questionnaire (Appendix) instrument for a convenience sample limited to 218 female respondents. The respondents were selected from female employees working in hotels and tourism companies in Saudi Arabia. The analysis of the collected data utilized structural equation modeling and a maximum likelihood estimate considering AMOS to investigate the direct and indirect relationship between the constructs and the proposed model. Findings: The results indicated that Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 for glass ceiling cracking (V2030) highly and positively influenced FIO via empowerment of females, which mediated the link of Saudi Arabia V2030 to job involvement opportunities in the tourism companies and hotels sector. Research limitations/implications: The biggest challenge for the researchers was reaching working women in hotel and tourism companies to complete the questionnaire and, therefore, only a small number of Saudi women working in the tourism and hotel sector were able to participate. Moreover, obtaining the approval of hotel managers in Saudi Arabia to distribute and endorse the questionnaire posed some difficulties. The study used a questionnaire directed to the small number of working females in certain tourism companies and hotel sectors, which limited the generalization of the results to all over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Also, it didn’t consider the deep interviews with managers and officials of the tourism authority in KSA. Besides, it didn’t cover women poisoning the leadership and higher jobs in tourism and hospitality. Practical implications: The study has important practical implications for concerned officials and their possibilities in helping Saudi women shatter the glass ceiling and change women’s roles in the tourism and hospitality industry via more empowerment and job involvement in available opportunities. Accordingly, the results may pave the way to benefit programs such as positive discrimination as an affirmative action program when adopting the policy of cracking the glass ceiling. Originality/value: This study uniquely addressed the Saudi Arabia V2030 on FIO through empowering females in the tourism and hotel sector, which opens the doors to researchers, practitioners and concerned officials for the significance of such issues to give due attention in a continuing assessment, amendments and development.

This study has a novel conceptual framework and uses SPSS version 23 and AMOS version 23 for analysis. These findings reveal that the use of AI in HR processes has, in fact, a positive significant effect on Employee Engagement and Retention, Data-Driven Decision Making, Smarter Recruitment, and Enhancing Performance Management but has no effect on Personalized Learning and Development. The novelty of this contribution lies in its focus on specific outcomes of the adoption of AI technology in managing the HRM process. This study fills the conceptual gap in the literature on HRM through the critical analysis of AI functions in the human resources process, focusing on the following critical outcome variables: employee engagement and retention, data-driven decision making, smarter recruitment, enhancing performance management, personalized learning, and development-the interrelations between HR artificial intelligence and these outcome variables.