Carruthers, Andrew

Hospitableness, a fundamental aspect of hospitality, has garnered attention across variouscontexts. However, concerns persist that its true essence is fading in the face of commercialization. Emphasising the critical role of hospitableness through the lens of belonging, this paper suggests that a sense of belonging is integral to understanding and applying hospitableness. Hospitableness, defined as creating an environment where guests feel welcome, safe and respected, is closely linked to individuals feeling secure, valued and supported. This connection is particularly significant for non-traditional learners, such as international students in Holmesglen’s Bachelor of Hospitality Management (BHM) program, who frequently reporta low sense of belonging (Crawford et al., 2023).Given the limited academic exploration of the relationship between hospitableness and belonging, the proposed research will investigate whether a regional study tour (RST), with a focus on hospitableness, can enhance first-year BHM students' sense of belonging. It will provide exploratory research into the foundational role of belonging in comprehending and practicing hospitableness.

Following the COVID-19 years, the global tourism industry has experienced remarkable growth, with the UNWTO (2024) reporting a return to 97% of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024 – reflecting year-on-year growth of 20%. The myriad of opportunities that this rapid growth has offered hospitality graduates, has also created challenges for both education providers and students, who must continually enhance their skills to stay competitive and market-ready. Professionalism, one of the most essential competencies for a high-quality hospitality workforce, has only been thoroughly explored within the past decade (Cheng & Wong, 2015; Lee, 2014). Professionalism has traditionally been associated with fields including law, architecture, medicine, science, or engineering. However, Cheng and Wong (2015) were among the first to interpret professionalism within the context of the hospitality industry through an exploratory study that included focus-group interviews with junior staff, middle managers, and senior managers across local and international hotel brands. Drawing on the perspective of hospitality practitioners, professionalism was conceptualized across nine attitudinal dimensions: passion, openness to change, a team-oriented attitude, competence and skills, interpersonal skills, emotional self-control, professional ethics, leadership by example, and perfectionism (Cheng and Wong, 2015). Hospitality educators need to be congnisant of these elements of professionalism to ensure that their students graduate with the skills and competencies that the industry requires (Fraser, 2020). Students should also reflect on these dimensions as they form their professional identity, a crucial element of graduate employability (Jackson, 2016).