Labor, Training and Careers in Tourism in Sardinia

Pinna Gabriele

2023-01-01

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Abstract

In Sardinia, an Italian island region characterized by seasonal seaside tourism, wage labor in the tourism sector is very unstable, not only because of the temporality of tourist fows but also because of the methods of workforce management: whether in small family businesses, managed by entrepreneurs with low cultural capital whose approach to professional relationships tends to be very paternalistic and traditionalist, or in national and international hotel chains, where according to our data, breaches of the law and of employment contracts are systematic, hierarchical relations are quite strained, and youth and women are expected to overwork. Because of these arduous working conditions, students in vocational hospitality schools often decide against pursuing a career in the sector, which contributes to the weakening of the links between Vocational Training and Education (VET) and labor. As a result, most wage workers turn to tourism in a way that refects an instrumental work attitude; their professional trajectories are very fragmented and often lead, especially for women, to a disqualifying professional integration.