Tourism and economic regeneration: the role of skills development

An increasing number of local economic development agencies in the UK are turning to tourism as a means of urban regeneration and employment creation. Although initiatives vary, there is a nationally inspired emphasis on the development of employee skills as a core element of many regeneration strategies. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study of the demand for and utilisation of skills by tourism firms in East London, an area that is the recipient of substantial urban aid funding, a proportion of which has an overt focus on skills enhancement designed to develop the tourism sector. It then examines the processes of skills supply within the locality. The paper concludes by identifying the key issues likely to be important if regeneration programmes are to be effective. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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