Emotional labor and the hospitality and tourism curriculum: The development and integration of emotion skills

Abstract Emotional labor is integral to guest-host interactions. Given that this is a competency that is desired by industry in graduates, it is important to understand how the concept presents in the Hospitality and Tourism curriculum. This exploratory qualitative study sets out to investigate how hospitality and tourism educators perceive the development of emotion skills in Hospitality and Tourism education curriculum. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with higher education hospitality and tourism educators in Australia. Findings reveal that the development of emotion skills is a taken for granted concept that is not explicitly addressed within the curriculum. Implications for practice discussed include incorporating targeted and explicit learning outcomes that encourage the development of emotion skills into the curriculum, encouraging experiential learning opportunities in teaching and learning practices and adopting multidisciplinary approaches to developing emotion skills in hospitality and tourism students.