Continuous Learning: A Competitive Advantage for the Tourism Industry

As rapid increases in technology continue to transform the tourism industry, a number of organizations have strategically implemented self-service processes to serve their customers and employees. This study focuses on the impact of self-directed learning within tourism organizations and to identify opportunities where self-directed learning may help to enhance service delivery. With self-service technology providing new opportunities and challenges throughout the tourism industry, an examination of the relationships that may exist will help to ensure that organizations within the tourism industry have the human resource capacity to engage in self-directed activities.

Measuring the self-directed learning readiness of employees may strengthen the ability of a tourism organization to adapt to change, bridge learning gaps, and provide an understanding of variables that promote self-directed learning capabilities and those that act as a barrier to self-directed learning. As human resource departments look for advantages in all segments of their organizations, self-directed learning processes should be considered to promote continuous learning opportunities for employees in the tourism industry.