Sustainable tourism employment: A comprehensive overview of tourism employees’ experience from a tourist-employee interaction perspective

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the importance of fostering “full and productive employment and decent work,” highlighting the significant challenges in attracting and retaining staff in the hospitality and tourism sectors. However, our understanding of sustainable employment remains fragmented and is not yet fully comprehended. To address this knowledge gap, this article intentionally adopts a conceptual approach instead of empirical data methodology. Utilizing contact theory, this framework encompasses cultural, emotional, professional, safety, and economic dimensions, considering both the positive and negative aspects within a sustainable tourism employment narrative. By integrating existing knowledge, this conceptual study not only identifies crucial gaps but also offers key insights and sets out a couples of future research agendas for sustainable tourism employment. Therefore, this study lays a solid conceptual foundation to advance the discussion of tourism employees and sustainable employment.