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Integration challenges and sustainability trends in the tourism sector

Held by VITE SUTE (Ukraine) the fifth Community of Practice (CoP) online workshop as part of the Erasmus+ MAAS project brought together 19 participants from academic institutions, civil society, and employment organizations across Europe and from Ukraine, focusing on the integration challenges and employment opportunities for Ukrainian refugees within the EU tourism labour market.

The session featured three core topics:

  1. “Travel to Ukraine: How Tourism Adapts to New Realities” – exploring how the Ukrainian tourism sector is coping with war-related disruptions, evolving into forms like aid and war tourism, and adjusting marketing, safety, and service strategies to survive.
  2. “Access to Labour Markets and Employment in Europe for Ukrainian Refugees” – providing a data-driven overview of refugee distribution, employment conditions, barriers such as language and qualification recognition, and steps taken by EU countries to support refugee integration.
  3. “Ukrainian Job-seekers Respond: Needs, Aspirations and Future Prospects” – presenting findings from a survey of 30 Ukrainian refugees across 7 EU countries, offering insight into their employment experiences, job search challenges, and essential support needs for successful integration.

Participants engaged in targeted break-out discussions on employment guarantees, national-level job brokerage challenges, and aligning refugees aspirations with EU tourism labour market needs.

Strategies for Sustainable Employment in the Tourism Sector

Presentations

Key Insights

Chapter 6: Strategies for Sustainable Employment in the Tourism Sector

  1. The tourism sector can experience some challenges, for example bad service in MAAS Project E-Guide Content Submission Template hotels, changing the tourist routes, negative perception abroad that influence sustainable employment in Tourism.
  2. The hotel business should be very flexible in order to adapt to any changes that can be needed in particular situations.
  3. Only 20% of hotels are operational in Ukraine, but many have shifted strategies: international marketing, flexible pricing, and rebuilding with eco- tourism or rural tourism in mind—pointing to new, sustainable job roles post-crisis.
  4. Tourism in Ukraine has shifted to domestic and humanitarian-focused formats (e.g., aid and war tourism). These alternative models maintain relevance during crisis and create new employment avenues.
  5. Emphasis is placed on safe destinations, last-minute bookings, and solo/family trips. These trends require a shift in employment training toward hospitality roles focused on flexibility, resilience, and empathy.
  6. The sector is shifting toward smaller-scale, safety-conscious tourism (e.g., health resorts, last-minute solo or family bookings), showcasing adaptability as a pathway to future recovery and sustainability.
  7. Customer service in tourism and hospitality depends greatly on the staff training and capacity.
  8. Ukrainian tourism businesses are adapting to wartime conditions by focusing on domestic tourism, flexible pricing, marketing, and forming partnerships. Innovative formats like aid tourism and war tourism are emerging to sustain the sector.
  9. Temporary Protection Directive, talent pools, and streamlined legal procedures aim to make refugee employment sustainable and scalable across EU tourism
    sectors.
  10. EU countries have implemented fast-track employment procedures, language training, skills assessment, and employer incentives to help refugees find work, particularly in tourism-related sectors.
  11. Financial incentives for employers, entrepreneurial support for refugees, and access to job-matching platforms are creating new sustainable employment paths in sectors like tourism.

Practical Tools and Methods

Strategies for Sustainable Employment in the Tourism Sector

To promote sustainable employment in the evolving tourism sector, a multifaceted and inclusive approach is adopted. One key strategy involves diversifying tourism models by supporting the shift toward local, aid-related, and war-related tourism, which creates new employment niches and responds to emerging travel trends. Training programs are adapted to prepare staff in empathy, cultural sensitivity, and safety protocols, ensuring alignment with crisis-aware and socially responsible tourism practices.

Flexible hotel and hospitality strategies are encouraged, including dynamic pricing models, targeted marketing, and the development of alternative formats such as eco-tourism and community-based tourism, which promote resilience and environmental sustainability. At the European level, job brokers and employers are encouraged to utilise existing EU frameworks—such as the Temporary Protection Directive and pan-European talent pools—to support refugee and migrant integration into the tourism workforce.

Support is also extended to refugee entrepreneurs through startup assistance, business mentoring, and access to funding tools, fostering self-employment and innovation in the sector. To stimulate inclusive hiring, employer incentives such as tax breaks and wage subsidies are promoted, rewarding companies that actively invest in diverse, inclusive, and sustainable workforce practices in tourism.nd hospitality strategies are encouraged, including dynamic pricing models, targeted marketing, and the development of alternative formats such as eco-tourism and community-based tourism, which promote resilience and environmental sustainability. At the European level, job brokers and employers are encouraged to utilise existing EU frameworks—such as the Temporary Protection Directive and pan-European talent pools—to support refugee and migrant integration into the tourism workforce.

Support is also extended to refugee entrepreneurs through startup assistance, business mentoring, and access to funding tools, fostering self-employment and innovation in the sector. To stimulate inclusive hiring, employer incentives such as tax breaks and wage subsidies are promoted, rewarding companies that actively invest in diverse, inclusive, and sustainable workforce practices in tourism.