STRUCTURAL DISSONANCE BETWEEN UNIVERSITY TOURISM EDUCATION AND EMERGING DEMANDS IN THE POST-PANDEMIC TOURISM MARKET

Abstract

The rapid transformation of tourism after the pandemic exposed deep structural tensions between university training and the real demands of the labor market. These tensions were especially clear in developing economies marked by institutional sclerosis. This study examined the structural dissonance between curriculum models in university tourism programs and the skills required by the tourism labor market in the post-pandemic context. The analysis focused on the departments of Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and Cajamarca, Peru, during 2022–2025. A non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive-explanatory design was employed, using a mixed-methods approach grounded in organizational neo-institutionalism and Critical Education Theory. The sample was structured into three groups: 94 employers in the tourism sector, 102 university graduates, and 5 key informants. A questionnaire adapted from the SERVQUAL Model with a SERVQUAL gap scale and a semi-structured interview were applied, respectively. The quantitative analysis revealed negative and statistically significant competency gaps in the following dimensions: technological competencies (mean gap: –2.18), soft skills (–1.52), and strategic management (–1.60). Critical discourse analysis showed that institutions privileged bureaucratic institutional isomorphism over functional relevance, shaping a pedagogy of abdication that depleted human capital and undermined regional competitiveness.