COMPETENCY SECTORS OF TOURISM EMPLOYEES IN SELECT TRAVEL DISTRIBUTION, AIRLINE,AND ACCOMMODATION SECTOR IN METRO MANILA

This study investigates the gap between the competency requirements that the tourism industry imposes among its employees, and the actual training and instruction given by HEIs in the face of job mismatch cases in the field. The research covered the profile variables of the respondents in terms of sex, age, highest educational attainment, position in the company, years in the service, and most importantly the respective skills required by each of the sectors involved. One of the things that generated the curiosity of the researchers was whether or not the graduates are trained in line with the industry requirement. Another was the existence of a common set of competencies or skills and the most preferred among the sectors and lastly, the possibility of revealing sector specific competencies or skills across the three select sectors. Questionnaires were distributed among 15 purposively chosen full scale tourism establishments in Metro Manila with 5 participants for every sector. Results reveal that there is no significant difference in competency requirements when grouped according to sector. However, the research identified sector- specific skills that highlighted the employer‘s preference for soft skills such as communication skills. The outcome of this study may shed useful insights on HEI instruction in producing competitive graduates who may hopefully give considerable inputs to the industry in the future