Introduction: Reimagining hospitality education: a multidisciplinary framework for future readiness

Labor shortages, skill deficiencies and persistent needs for training and retraining continue to affect service quality, operational viability and customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry as of 2025. The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) reports that nearly 467,000 direct jobs were created in the last 4 years since the pandemic; however, 65% of hotels experienced labor shortages and 71% expressed difficulties in hiring for open positions despite active recruitment efforts. The AHLA's report stated that the hospitality industry had the highest quit rates of all sectors.World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) Future of the Travel and Tourism Workforce report states that the travel and tourism industry faces a workforce shortage of more than forty-three million jobs by 2035. The Future of Job Survey identified 63% of employers cited skill gap, as the greatest obstacle to their business transformation over the period 2025–2030; it was also discovered that around 22% of the world's jobs will be affected by this changing job market in the next five years. Therefore, it is crucial to address the emerging skill gap in the tourism and hospitality industry. The Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC), which represents the sector, reports the demand and skill gap and estimates that around 5.7 million youth will need to be trained to meet the incremental labor demand of three million workers projected between 2025 and 2028. As a result of the increasing need for up-skilling and re-skilling of the workforce and addressing the challenges of low wages and work-life balance, it is becoming increasingly important for those in higher education to reflect on how they can better prepare and equip future-ready graduates.The Ministry of Education has created a formal partnership between the industry and academia. Through this initiative, the leading global hospitality brands in India (Taj Hotels, Marriott International and the Radisson Group) will offer training and mentorship to students at 21 government hotel management schools. The partnership will bring together hospitality brands that will focus on areas where both the industry and academia have similar interests and goals and can collaborate to support joint training programs, curriculum development and mentoring aligned with industry expectations. The benefits of this collaborative effort may include enhanced employability, industry-aligned curricula and a future-ready workforce.In the WTTC's Future of the Travel therefore, solutions that address the root causes of the problem are required. One emerging strategic solution to this problem is to have education providers and employers in the industry come together to develop solutions that reduce the gaps in the skills that graduates possess versus the expectations from the workforce. Hospitality education must be developed on a multi-discipline basis to effectively provide students with the knowledge base to meet the changing needs of the hospitality industry and to eliminate the ongoing skill deficit gap present in today's industry. The most significant issues are lack of education concerning emerging hospitality technologies, lack of education concerning personal and business finances, competency and experience-based learning and the incorporation of business and experiential learning into hospitality education, especially in event planning and hospitality operations.The increased demand for students to have digital and sustainability-based skills further emphasizes the need for students to participate in hands-on training and education with industry-specific software and real-world applications. Additionally, as employees in the hospitality industry require competencies, including but not limited to creativity, problem solving, employee empowerment and engagement, leadership development, accountability and continuing education, to work in ever-changing service environments, the use of social media has become a critical multi-discipline area, which is dramatically changing how guests interact with hospitality organizations through their ability to create participatory engagement and build long-term value through an interconnected digital environment. Another important issue facing hospitality educators is striking a balance between meeting regulatory requirements, maintaining organizational culture and ensuring employee well-being. Therefore, hospitality education should incorporate both legal and psychological perspectives into its curricula to support the implementation of DEI strategies and the complex nature of human behavior in service environments.Finally, preparing workforce readiness in hospitality education must include disability inclusion and accessibility as core professional competencies rather than peripheral policy issues. Individuals with disabilities encounter a high degree of employment and career advancement discrimination, according to the World Economic Forum; therefore, hospitality education must develop inclusive practices and accessibility awareness as part of its training models.Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach, utilizing elements of management, technology, finance, law, psychology, sustainability and social sciences, is necessary to equip future hospitality professionals with the skills and adaptability required to address the current and future challenges of the hospitality industry and contribute to the overall success of organizations and society at large.