INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE OF TOURISM GRADUATES - PRECONDITION OF EMPLOYABILITY IN THE GLOBAL WORLD

Global interconnectedness brings structural changes in the environment in which destinations and tourism businesses work with specific impacts on their competitiveness. Tourism is a labor-intensive sector employing one out of every ten people. Globalization has increased competition in tourism markets, and the industry realizes that human resources development become one of the most critical to the success of tourism in many markets. The higher education in tourism should equip graduates with the necessary skills for a global tourism market as employability is regarded as a critical performance indicator for higher education institutions. The paper focuses on the tourism sector requirements regarding the intercultural competence of tourism graduates. The study aims to identify the importance of intercultural competence of graduates in tourism about their employability. First, intercultural competence and its components were determined. The analysis and data represented in this paper are based on primary and secondary research. The study included a review of recent literature and reports on tourism the graduate's employment, and the tourism sector, in general. Then, qualitative research was conducted among representatives of the tourism sector. The interviewees were selected by a purposeful sampling using the-the snowball sampling method. The study disclosed the most required components of graduates' multicultural competence in the tourism sector. The results show that employers call for the different level of intercultural competence of bachelor and master graduates.