The toll that the pandemic has taken on tourism jobs around the world is incredible. A United Nations report finds that “Approximately one in 10 people worldwide work in the tourism sector, and the impact of the pandemic has put 100 million to 120 million jobs at risk.” The least-developed countries, which depend on tourism the most, are faring the worst.
The World Tourism Organization, called the UNWTO, is working with Eightfold to turn these numbers around. The two partners will help connect job seekers in the tourism sector with employers, and so drive the global recovery of the sector.
The UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable, and universally accessible tourism. It’s an intergovernmental organization with 159 Member States, six associate members, two observers, and more than 500 Affiliate Members.
The new partnership will see the UNWTO harness the power of the Eightfold Talent Exchange, a marketplace connecting workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with available jobs. Using advanced deep-learning AI, the Talent Exchange matches people to the right jobs in companies that are hiring, creating a bridge between those looking for a job and organizations that need to hire quickly.
The UNWTO will ask its members to have any of its affected citizens enter the Talent Exchange. It will also ask members to add available jobs to the Talent Exchange. Tourism workers around the world will use the Talent Exchange to build profiles of themselves. The AI used in the Talent Exchange will match people with roles within the tourism industry, and outside of it.
Having analyzed more than a billion careers worldwide and more than a million skills, the AI has a sense of each person’s capabilities and potential. A cruise-line employee, for example, may be a great fit for a call center, based on the customer-service skills they’ve polished during their experience in the cruise industry.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says that the UNWTO-Eightfold partnership “will be a great help to the many millions of people who are dependent on tourism for their livelihoods, while also connecting employers with the very best talent our sector has to offer.”
