Tourism in Transition: Travel, Technology, and Talent

Travel and tourism are among the world's largest industries, supporting hundreds of millions of jobs and contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. Yet the industry is undergoing significant change. Workforce shortages, evolving traveler expectations, emerging technologies, and the rise of artificial intelligence are reshaping how people travel and how businesses operate.

In this episode of Bold Exchange, we bring together leaders from hospitality, aviation, and travel services to explore the current state of tourism in South Florida, the trends driving the industry forward, and what the future of travel may look like. From hotels and airlines to travel planning and customer experiences, we'll discuss how organizations are adapting to meet the needs of both travelers and the workforce of tomorrow. Listen in…

Executive Producers: Laurie Sallarulo and Sharon Alexander

Producer/Showrunners: Sharon Alexander

Host: Laurie Sallarulo, President & CEO of Junior Achievement of South Florida

Guest: Heiko Dobrikow, Executive Vice President / General Manager of The Las Olas Company / Riverside Hotel | Connect with Heiko Dobrikow on LinkedIn

Follow Riverside Hotel: Facebook | Instagram | X

Follow The Las Olas Company: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Guest: Nacho Borbolla, Regional Sales Manager, South Florida for Delta Air Lines | Connect with Nacho Borbolla on LinkedIn

Guest: Ina Lee, President/Owner of Travelhost of Greater Fort Lauderdale

Follow Travelhost of Greater Fort Lauderdale: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Recording Technician: Jorge Hernandez of Flint Stone Media

Episode Editing & Production: Producer Jaime of Flint Stone Media

Connect with Junior Achievement of South Florida’s Website: JASouthFlorida.org

Email the Show: Communications@JASouthFlorida.org

Follow Junior Achievement SF on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

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Bold Xchange. Conversations that inspire.
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Production House: Flint Stone Media

Copyright of Junior Achievement 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Nobody talks about that part.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

That's the part people need to hear.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I've never shared this publicly.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

The leaders are talking. The stories are real. Don't miss what everyone will be talking about. Welcome to the Bold Exchange. Today we're talking about an industry that impacts every one of us, travel and tourism. Tourism is expected to contribute more than $12 trillion to the global economy this year and support nearly 376 million jobs worldwide. Here in South Florida, tourism fuels our economy, supports businesses of every size, and creates countless career opportunities. But the industry is also navigating major change, workforce shortages, shifting traveler expectations, new technologies, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and transforming how we travel and how tourism businesses operate. Joining me today are three leaders with unique perspectives from hospitality, aviation, and travel services. Heiko DeBruco, EVP of La Sola's Company and General Manager of the Riverside Hotel, Nacho Barbola, representing Delta Airlines, and Aina Lee, president of Travel Host of Greater Fort Lauderdale. Together we'll explore the current state of tourism, the future of the workforce, and how technology may redefine the travel experience in the years ahead. Let's dive in. Well, thank you all for joining me this morning. I'm so thrilled to be with you all. I've known you all for a long, long time. I'd love to just set the stage before we dig into the workforce piece and the technology piece that we talked about and customer service and experience. And ask you all, what is the current state of tourism in South Florida and what trends are you paying closest attention to in your area of tourism and travel? Heiko, let's start with you.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

Sure, I think 2026 has been off to a great start. The season was amazing. The Good Lord sent lots of blizzards up north, which we love, and everybody was flocking down here. The Canadian business was a little soft during the winter season, right, for geopolitical reasons. But for all of us in the hotel industry, we did actually really, really well. And then we we kicked off our summer season with IPW, where we had over 5,000 inbound travel professionals from 60 different countries here, which really gave us a nice little injection for our summer season and putting us on the global stage. And summer is roaring now. You know, it's uh it's uh all about getting folks out of the feeder markets from from the airlines and then also the drive-in market, right, through AAA and and doing some marketing there. So we are off to a great start.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

And our cruise, I mean, our port is growing, right? So so also our cruise industry. Yeah. And that's wonderful to hear because summer has always been a really slow time for us. This was the first time that they did the IPW, wasn't it, here in Lawrence?

SPEAKER_03 3:10

So and it was a major step forward for our destination because we had all of these people coming from around the world. Many of them had never been here before. Many of them have actually never seen an ocean before. You take it for granted, living here, right? But you also had 600 international journalists. And everyone had a great experience. But the other thing that impressed me a lot, first of all, we got to showcase our new $1.2 billion convention center expansion, the Omni Hotel, and 19 host hotels took care of our guests. But there was such an an aura of people excited. You know, the volunteers, we had hundreds of volunteers that were trained, but it was it brought the whole community together in something I've never seen like that before. So, and obviously it's great for future business with IPW. These are people that booked for years in advance. So it wasn't just the economic impact they had while they were here, but the future of these people booking travel into this destination, all of South Florida, but let's say Greater Fort Lauderdale for years to come. So it was really great. And now we've got the World Cup. And, you know, that again, so we have two major global events happening in South Florida. And I think the World Cup, although it's bringing a lot of headlines and stuff, it's a little softer than people expected for geopolitical reasons. But I think people that are coming here, what they're saying they love the people they're meeting. It really has changed their opinion based on headlines in their countries about how friendly we are. And you know, what I've always said is we welcome our visitors with open arms, right? And don't want to complain about traffic.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

There's no other place like that. We have to agree to that. I think from an aviation standpoint, demand is very strong. Here at Delta, we continue to connect people globally around the world. Here in South Florida, we continue to invest in new destinations, adding Austin, more frequencies to LA. So we continue growing, which is absolutely fantastic. And overall, when we think about Delta, it's all about connecting people to new places, new cultures, bringing people together is what we focus on. And I think we're doing that really well, whether it's for conferences, World Cup games, whatever it might be, work, corporate travel is still doing really well. We're seeing that flourish in this economy. So all in all, aviation-wise, we're doing great.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Wow, that sounds really, really positive, right? You know, and and I think as as I listen to all this, we're gonna get into a little bit the trends and some of the challenges that that the industry might be seeing as well. But I do I do want to ask this question as someone who I love to travel, right? But the experiences have changed. We want different things today, I think, as travelers than we did before. Are you seeing that change, right? And how is your particular industry responding to that?

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Yeah, I think from a Delta perspective, travel isn't just getting from point A to point B. Travel has become a lifestyle journey. It's all about what travelers want when they travel. At Delta, we are a premium brand and we we pri have value in that. We want to make sure when guests travel on Delta or our joint venture partners are coming in. It's a stress-free, reliable premium experience that starts anywhere from them booking on our Fly Delta app to checking in at the airport, greeted by our customer service agents with a smile, going through, walking into our sky clubs, newly renovated and modernized. Our new Delta One Sky Club is absolutely fantastic. I know. I tried it out. It is there's no other like that in the ecosystem. And then an onboard experience, we're investing in new fleet, new aircraft, uh, new onboard experience, more premium cabins. I think back in the day we were focused on having more economy cabins. Now people want premium. They want to pay that extra dollar to have an experience that they're gonna enjoy. So adding more Delta One seats, first class cabins, delta premium select, and we're investing in the service, food, wines, technology, all of our aircraft have, in-flight entertainment, free Wi-Fi is huge. Everybody wants to stay connected nowadays. And then at the end, getting off, making sure your bag is there, it's on time. So overall, I think what's your sea changing is people investing in a premium experience that's gonna add value to them, to their time, to their family, to their business. So that's what we're really focused on.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Yeah, they don't mind paying extra.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

They don't, right? But we see more now of people who want to pay more knowing that they're gonna have an experience that's gonna add value.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Are you seeing the same thing, Heiko, at the other travel?

SPEAKER_05 7:30

Something s similar, but I think you need to take a look at the demographics, right? We have four generations that are traveling, and they're all very different. The boomers are different than their Gen Xers, the Millennials are different than the Gen Zs, right? And you you really have to be very diversified in your approach, how you're dealing with the different traveler. The boomer loves sophistication. They love it, right? And they are not shy to spend the money. You look at the Gen Zs that are vagabonds, right? And they just spur of the moment, they have no clue where they want to go, they just want to experience the world, and they jump on one of your quick trips and and go to a destination to just explore it. At the end of the day, they all want to get to know the community. You know, it behooves us as a community to really know our community. And what I love, and I and I, we worked on that so hard with the host committee, creating a real great solid destination ambassador program and making sure that our local ambassadors are trained actually, what's happening in Pampano, what's happening in Hollywood, what happens in in Fort Lauderdale, and out west, you know. What are the experiences out west, you know? And that that was quite the undertaking, I wouldn't you say.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Yeah, I would. And the other thing, too, uh a little different than the premium thing, I think, especially going into summer months, pe many people are more budget conscious. What's going on? We can't ignore what's going on economically right now. And so people, they're traveling, but they may book a hotel a little bit lower than they normally would. So I think that one of the great things about our destination, South Florida, and particularly Greater Fort Lauderdale, is there's something for everyone to experience, but everyone's pocketbook as well.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

And I was gonna ask about that because we are right economically. We're we're there are a lot of people going through a really tough time. And so I wondered about that. Is travel just becoming for those who can afford those higher end premium experiences, or is there still a way for those who can't write travel at that level? Is there still a way for them to enjoy?

SPEAKER_03 9:36

They can they can there's every level. Yeah, okay. But it's different than it used to be. Okay. And I also think that people are more savvy. I mean, they're gonna check you online or whatever, and you know, rice and you know, they that's what they're and especially the younger generations, when you're talking about that, they know what the pricing could be or should be or what they want to pay, and they're so it's more competitive that way. I think also because we haven't talked we're talking about hotels, but also restaurants. Restaurants just overall, and Hilo can speak to this a lot more, they're drinking a lot less.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Yes, I've heard that.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

And a lot of restaurants, that's a profit area for them. Okay. And also the food costs have continued to rise and all the rest of that stuff. So it's a the profit margins are changing from what they used to be, right? I think the those operators, whether restaurants or hotels and our experts and know what they're doing or airlines, okay, are doing okay. You know, unfortunately, what just happened with Spirit, right? It's, you know, but now at least Grant Department Laura is absorbing, you know, a lot more other airlines are coming in to take up that slack. But they were the number one carrier, okay. And the other thing, and I've been here for 46 years. I've owned travelers for 46 years. When I started, there was no social media, none of the stuff that we do right now. Life was very simple. Probably I was happier. Right, right. I could actually take the weekend off. But so I think that it's changed. And before, Fort Lauderdale used to be known as a budget destination with budget carriers coming in, hotels that were little mom and pop's. Listen, now we have the four seasons. Now, by the way, what Haiko and the Riverside have done over time, they continue to upgrade, but there's still that legacy that people know for generations back from the 40s, right? And so there's but now we have a four seasons and a Conrad. And listen, we used to be the spring break capital of the world. Right? I remember that. It took place over six weeks. Now it's year-round, it's we're known as something for everyone and every pocketable. But I think that we need to be sensitive to what's going on geopolitically. I know a lot of marketing is shifted over to domestic versus international for obvious reasons, but also it's uh it's changed, you know, and going after more different theater markets than we might have used to go after, right? So it's it's a changing landscape, but we're no longer known as a budget destination, both with flights coming in, but also the level of hotels out there. So so I think that those people that relied on that, you know, very affordable, it's not the same.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Not the same.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

Yeah. But you have to think about it. You know, our industry is is very resilient, number one, right? When there's an economic downturn, but then when there are geopolitical issues, what have you, we pivot and shift real fast. We probably learn it from the airlines, you know, when it comes to revenue management and seeing where the business is coming from. The same is with the hospitality industry. We learn from your industry, right? And and you end up working together in order to make this happen. But we saw the shift that the international travel was going to be down. We saw the shift that Europe was going to be down during the summer season, right? So, what did we do all in our industry? We started shifting our marketing efforts more to the national and domestic traveler and started focusing on them. And it's a different budget at that particular point, right? And so you just you pivot and shift and make it happen and start working on it in in order to still sustain and and and be comfortable and running a good business out there.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, and you touched on you, you both touched a little bit on marketing, and I was going to go down that road. It's something I I absolutely love it. I came from the advertising industry before being in nonprofit. How has that shifted? And I and I have to say publicly and give her kudos. I think Stacy Ritter with Visit Fort Lauderdale, Visit Lauderdale, has done an amazing job of putting us on the map from a marketing perspective, right? Being in the New Year's Eve and what you were just saying, right? So how have has have you seen a change in how Delta, how the airlines are marketing to their customers, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah, I think overall it's brands need to be authentic. I think people nowadays can can so can with through the the the uncertainty and what's not real and what's not right. So I think as a brand, we have to be authentic to who we are, who our travelers are, what we want to represent, and the destinations that we go to. So if you see any new Delta commercials or advertisements out there, it's all about connecting people to places, to cultures, to new beginnings, and it's inspirational and and wanting to help people figure out where they want to go from a travel perspective. I I'm in a unique place where I deal not only with leisure, but I deal with corporate travelers as well. So it's how do you find that balance of two of marketing to someone about a really fun destination that they can go to with their family, but also leveraging Delta and our global partner network to take you waiting to go from a business standpoint as well. And a lot of that relies on reliability, most on-time airline destinations and places we can take you. So it's a balance of how do you talk to, like you were saying before, everyone's on their phone nowadays. So it's not just a advertising in a magazine anymore. Everything's digital through Instagram, through Twitter or X. Now and now it's X.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

So it it's I can't keep up.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

It's ever evolving in how we kind of how our passengers and our the our target demographics are intaking media.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Right. And getting to those different demographics in different ways, right? With different marketing, different stuff.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

There's different people flying. It's not just one generation flying, it's a group of different people who value different things, want different things, whether it's price, locations. It's so you have to be flexible and nimble. But I think at Delta, what you'll see is it's we're always authentic to who we are as a brand.

SPEAKER_05 15:29

I feel like we we we are drinking off the fire hose when it comes to marketing, right? Because it used to be you just put your ads into a directory. So, all right, check we got the directories done. You do your newspaper ads, check we got them done, and we do our magazine ads, check the ad. That's not the case any longer.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Keep on doing the magazine ads.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

Oh, I I will, and I I'm a loyal, I'm a loyal customer of yours and I will always support you. But at the end of the day, you know, marketing is 24-7, and one of the strategies that we did in in our business, we brought the social media aspect inside the riverside. So we have a digital digital manager in order to have that authenticity out there. Because if you are if you're not real, if you're just putting messages out there that are not real and and genuine real stories, real stories, right? That the customer and that lifestyle customer that's out there because there's 74 different lifestyles that are out there that are traveling, you know, and that you now touch that that customer, then it doesn't become relevant to that customer. Yeah, you know, and you need to be relevant in that particular aspect in order to make it happen and translate it into dollars down the line. That's what you want.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Yeah. And I mean, this is this hits you. This is your wheelhouse, right? A magazine. How have you had to shift?

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Well, it's interesting. Like I said, 46 years ago was no social media, no digital. First of all, we're now fully integrated front-end digital. But people, when they get in that hotel room or that hotel, want to pick up the physical copy. I don't care what age they are. They love to pick it up and and feel it and touch it. My sister says it's visual seduction because it's big. So I like that. Yeah. So it's, you know, that's the other thing too. People have very quick attention spans, right? They don't in the magazine, they don't want to read long stories. They just want to know where to go, where to eat, how to get there, and that's what they're interested in. Now we have I have two full-time social media people. And everything, probably 90% of what I do with our social media is take care of our clients. So we are an extra digital arm for them on social media. Listen, we have over uh 30,000 monthly viewers on Pinterest alone. No one ever heard of Pinterest using it. You know, listen, so everything has changed. But we have to be flexible. And I think a lot of us learned a lot after COVID. Yeah. Okay. I've been through hurricanes, 9-11, COVID, you know, and I'm still I'm sitting. You're still standing. You're still standing, still sitting, still here. But it's completely changed, okay? And I think COVID more than anything impact, listen, 80% of our my clients shut down overnight. Yeah. I had to completely recreate our publication. So it that was an interesting thing, but it's changed. And so I think, but however, those clients that are and then the client mix has changed. We have a lot more corporate people and corporate restaurants coming in. They're a little bit, little bit used to be a lot of little mom and pop restaurants, you know, chef-owned, which I miss by the way, because we lost some great restaurants, right? So, but like at even at the river side, I love the restaurant fix me mix that he's got there. You know, he could talk more about it. Award-winning, you know, Wild Sea or you know, the the boathouse. So it's like it's there's something for everybody. And and and but for me, I have clients that have still been with me 46 years later. Yeah. Wow, that's a testament, huh? You know, like 15 Strait Fisheries has still got page in the magazine 46 years later, but others come and go. You know, and I think we have to be much more I never used to be concerned about people paying their bills. Now I do. Interesting. Yeah. And the other thing, too, don't mail in a check. The post office doesn't deliver it at the time. It's like, it's really, it's like it's it's amazing to me. ACH, Zell, or or Venmo is the way to go, right? So many of our clients, I mailed a check. It I don't know where we're gonna get. We don't get it. We never got it. So it's changed a lot. Absolutely. But it's changed in every industry.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Right. And there's changes, right? There's positive things and there's right, those things that we have to navigate. I want to shift gears a little bit because I I did read read recently about several closings of restaurants on Los on particularly on Los Holas. But then there are all these new restaurants coming as well, right? So you you can see how it's it's not that restaurants are going away, it's but it's shifting, right? The focus of the restaurants, the themes of the restaurants, your to your point, corporate or right, small. But one of the things that I hear so often in the hospitality and tourism field is workforce challenges. And of course, this is what we do, right? JA is all about preparing young people for careers. I would love to hear generational, right? You've got four generations now in the workforce as well. Talk to us a little bit about. I want I want our audience to hear what are some of the challenges you're facing, particularly, right? Specifically in in this industry.

SPEAKER_05 20:35

Well, I mean, uh first of all, if you don't have a company culture, you will suffer in the workforce. Folks want to have a sense of place when they join a company and they want to be valued, right? And if you think that you can put profits over people, you will lose, right? At the end of the day, is embracing your people, embracing your staff, and see them as the most important investment that you have as a company. It's nice to have airplanes, it's nice to have a marketing company with all the bells and whistles, and nice to have restaurants and the bricks and mortars that is out there. But that's not what's bringing your business alive. And when you think about hospitality, hospitality is in every business. So this this comment that I'm having is not going out to the tourism and the the hospitality industry, it goes to every industry because hospitality is in every industry. Even though that that AI is gonna make us more efficient out there, it's not gonna replace the the folks that we have in order to create that magic, that mojo for for the experiences that they have.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Right. When they walk up to that desk, they want a human being smiling at them, right? Not something in AR.

SPEAKER_05 21:47

We all selected to surround ourselves with more A players than B or C players on our teams, right? Because we know that an A player can do the same job as two C players, and that is important. You want to keep and hold on to the best of the best that you have and make them true truly fall in love with you so that there's no reason for them to love. And look, for my hotel, having another 30% turnover with five restaurants, that's a very low number. And that just speaks much strong culture.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Are you seeing the difference in the younger generation in the workforce? So, you know, everybody talks about that.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

I think it's across the board, but I'm curious. I do want to say something. I'm a little unique in that way. My staff, and I think I there are eight of them. My sister's worked with me for 39 years. We've never had a fight. My CFO has been with me for 22 years. My managing editor for 31 years. So it I'm very rare that way. My art director for 12 years. So but there's a huge amount of turnover where I see it a lot is the younger generation is very much competitive. If they can get a couple more dollars moving somewhere else they'll do that. And so that Heiko has been a genius at the Riverside in my opinion of creating that culture. A lot of hotels do not and they're not putting that same emphasis on it. So a director of sales and marketing they're here one week and then three months later that are a different property and a different property. So they're and then there's a youth let's be straight about it there's an affordability crisis down here. So no matter how much you pay somebody where are they going to live? And I know that's a challenge not just for minimum wage people. I'm talking for management people and so it's that in itself is causing a lot of angst. Listen somebody who is and we learned this during COVID folks too a housekeeper who has to live in West Broward who had her kids at home because she couldn't put them in daycare has to take two buses to get to a job on Fort L'Oreal Beach for minimum wage. So that's what we're dealing with that they can't live close to where they're working for the most part. And Heiko did a brilliant job when he was took over chairing career source Broward. He knows more about what this topic is than anyone else I know but he made some real changes there.

SPEAKER_05 24:12

Yeah I mean you know at at the at the end of the day we needed to create that change in our county and we needed to look at skilling and upskilling right it is all about training. And and first of all you had to get into the middle schools you had to get into the high schools and plant seats. You had to be a farmer right and one of the things and JA is great at that and I have the JA students actually at my today. We have them today. And we always end up even hiring JA students after the summer but you know just for the summer and a summer internship right getting them in for a few weeks and getting them exposed to the industry makes them suddenly go onto a path that they didn't think before. And that's where it all starts you know because a lot of times the parents are not doing that. It is it's not even really the teachers it it is the industries the businesses having to sit at the table and making that change. That's important.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Yeah yeah you know there was a recent video that the guy who does dirty jobs Mike Rowe did and they were talking about how trades right electricians plumbers where are we going to get hundreds of thousands that we need and he said his answer was eighth grade. Yep. Right. And so that's why right every single eighth grade student is doing that career exploration. And it's amazing to me that we don't have hospitality here yet, but we will at some point what are you seeing as far as workforce in the airline industry?

SPEAKER_01 25:36

From a Delta perspective our workforce is extremely strong. I have to give you kudos I think everything you just said about culture and driving that within the people is is exactly what Delta we're people and safety first at Delta. We're highly invested in our workforce we're 100,000 strong globally which is absolutely fantastic but I think it's little things of investing in health and wellness investing in the individual peoples and their needs that they need whether it's training or making sure they have the right tools like technology to do their job successfully. And that's what Delta does really really well. We also have fun perks like travel perks that we get to go and travel the world. But I think nowadays I work for you I'm just gonna say that that might have to be my next Delta Emeritus to have to have you so I think overall it's it's it's it's about the culture about the people first it's the it's who you have around you and how do you set up this workforce for success is extremely important. And it's different. I I I'm still considered a baby at Delta. I've been with Delta eight years and I have other leaders that have been there 42 45 44 years which is absolutely amazing. But I think it really just shows the cult shows the culture that we have at Delta. People don't want to leave it's a really hard organization to get into and I was joking with you earlier I started in the airline industry I was like I'm gonna do two years and I'm gonna go do something different and I've been sucked in and I don't see myself going anywhere else in the future. It gets sucked in which is fantastic. But I think it's truly a representation of who our leadership is the values that we have as an organization and then what the company gives back. Delta paid out the highest profit sharing more than any other airline ecosystem which is absolutely fantastic. You don't hear that nowadays you don't hear big organizations investing profits back into their people. And that's the true Delta culture. COVID we had no furloughed employees that's amazing and Delta can. And I think that just shows who our leadership is like I said the organizations that we work for and what we do to invest into our people.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

You know Lori one of the things too and because I've over the years met so many general managers and it's the one career you don't have to go to college for. Right. So many general managers started as busboys or front desk people and and they work their way up. So and and so you they've they've they did start at that level. So you know when you're talking about younger people that the career is can be for years and years and years and years and they don't have to get high and nothing wrong with higher education but they don't have to do that to get into this industry.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

And Aynar, you you cannot imagine we see it, I mean, and we expose them to every career right no matter what the schooling level of schooling all of the different careers. But we are seeing more and more young people who want to come out of high school and do not want to go to college at least at this time they may go back but at this time they're they're either not sure of what they really want so why go into debt or they want to come out and they want to start using the skills that they've developed. They want to start making money. And so I would love to ask for those young people who don't choose to go on to college but how do we continue to excite them about the hospitality tourism travel industry and what is would you say is the one skill that we, JA, Career Source, what is the one skill we need to make sure they have in order to be successful in in the industry?

SPEAKER_05 28:54

For me it's number one, you see in higher education how they're changing their formats, right? They're going into shorter certifications versus the four-year plan, right? And suddenly let's get them just acclimated in in a one-year program and see whether they're they are getting excited about that particular aspect. For our industry it it's really a personality type of of attitude that you need to have right because personality is everything. And when it comes to soft skills all the all the hard skills we can teach right but when we look for personality we're looking for folks that have the right personality and there's two particular traits that I look for number one you have to be process oriented. Our business is on the plate of the plate done right it's a 24 hour business it never stops. You cannot be a procrastinator you cannot just sit there and let let me think how the chips will fall you know because the plane will will leave you know it will leave in front there is the time scale so that that skill is going to be very important. And I think you need to have also really a sense of formality you need to be able to organize and sort things right because in our business you deal with a curveball that's coming your way every single day multiple times you know and if you have the skill set that you can think of your feet and just deal with those situations that are coming your ways if you have just those two traits right sense of urgency getting things on the plate off the plate and have a sense of formality that you now know when that curveball is coming how you're going to deal with it those two ingredients and fostering them and investing in those particular traits that's going to be very important for us.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

And also think integrity so when I mean integrity I mean about workability. Be on time do what you're supposed to do when when you said you would do when you would do it and if not let that person know in advance so that person who's over you is not sitting there you don't come in the last minute and say oh by the way I couldn't get the job done because whatever. No you need to let them know. So I think that that's a ground level that every person and every certainly someone in school needs to know. It's just do what you say you're gonna do because that's workability.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

So I think that's a ground accountability right being accountable for what you're supposed to do. And anything different?

SPEAKER_01 31:19

No it's a perseverance I think it's the hospitality the travel the tourism industry is an ever-changing industry so you need to be able to kind of roll with the punches and flow and be optimistic yet strategic and understanding the market and how to kind of go through everything go through life and go through that. And I would say a T player I think no matter what you do in the tourism aviation hospitality industry you're not working alone you're working with a group of individuals for the success of the business for the success of the market. So being able to to come to work on time and to show up but also be able to work with a group of individuals and and be able to work with customers I think is extremely important.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Yeah customer service across everything our to our I think our number one value is deliver the wow right so it's all about that.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Final words before we close out uh I'm gonna start with I know I love tourist so you know for us listen we're here because people like to travel and so I think we need to take care of our visitors with open arms. We need to welcome them listen they're here to have a great time they may not know where they're going and don't get mad at them in traffic you know but that they are our number one industry folks. So we need to protect them we need to cherish them we need to and the other thing too I love the hotel managers and everyone I work with over the years. It they work so well together even though they may be in competition you would never know it. They are they care. I mean it's what other industry you can go into that people actually care about a lot of other industries but in our industry they care about each other. They're smiling they're welcoming and they work really well together. So I just love what I do.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

I can tell yeah yeah say the same I get to work for the best company in the world and I have the best team I think overall the the travel industry is so much fun. I think every day is a new adventure whether I'm sitting behind my computer desk or I'm flying on a Delta jet somewhere in the world I get to experience new adventures new destinations new cultures new people. How many people can say that they get to do that for their job. And I my nieces are growing up my oldest is 14 now and she's like you have the coolest job what do you do and it's like I get to travel and I think that's that is for me what excites me the most and as we look towards the future I think hospitality tourism travel is always gonna be there. It's gonna change it's gonna evolve it's gonna get better but I don't see it going anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

So fucking I agree it's definitely not going anywhere.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

Haika Lori for me buckle down because Greater Fort Lauder is gonna go through a tremendous amount of change. When I look at the tremendous amount of change that we have at the airport to FLL the expansion and the master plan that is being put in place and potentially even getting an airport hotel there and improving the parking situation it's gonna be monumental. The the people mover that is really going to start taking people from the airport to the cruise port to to the convention center is just going to be a game changer. It's gonna be a game changer. The addition of the Omni and the expansion of the convention center sent will change the demographics and the segmentations of our business. We're gonna have blue chip companies coming here, massive healthcare conventions coming here it's a whole different level a higher level of customer that we're gonna see coming into our destination. And you know when you take a look at the two seasonalities that we have winter and summer you will see in the near future summer will be roaring so that we actually have a winter season where maybe the rates will be higher but then when you look at the summer season we will have a collaborative spirit with for example the airlines with the cruise lines in order to really grow that summer business even stronger than ever. So Buckle Down hang on to this right it's going to be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

It's exciting well I have been here in Fort Lauderdale now longer than I was in New York so I'm not putting years on that because I don't want anybody to figure it out but but I love it. So I have a love of C words I actually wrote a book which is in publishing right now and it's all about C words. And I heard so many of them today which is unusual right in when I do these these podcasts. I heard culture, I heard care, I heard community, I heard customer right focus, customer service so many of those C words that are so important to this industry and to the future I want to just say thank you so much for sharing where we've come from, where we're going, where we are today, where we're going to in this industry. I'm excited I'm excited for our young people I think this is an industry that they can really enjoy to your point, right? There's this is a fun industry. I worked in hotel just for a short time for about a year and then got pregnant and had my son. But it was a fun industry and if you like people and if you love people and you love travel and cultures there's nothing there's nothing like it. So thank you all for being here so much for sharing all of that. I want to just close out with our audience and say thank you for joining us today. This has been a great conversation and if you are a young person out there and even if you're not a young person out there, this just might be an industry you want to work in. So definitely pay attention to it but also to everyone out there come visit for Lauderdale. As we wrap up today's conversation one thing is clear travel and tourism are about much more than destinations. They are about people, experiences, connections and opportunities. The industry is evolving rapidly from changing traveler expectations and workforce challenges to the growing impact of technology and artificial intelligence. But what remains constant is the human desire to explore, discover and connect. Thank you to our guests for joining us today and for sharing your insights and perspectives on where tourism is today and where it's headed tomorrow. The boldest thing any of us can do is to be honest about the journey. Thank you for listening. Until next time this is Bold Exchange.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Bold Exchange is a production of Junior Achievement of South Florida. Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss a conversation. Follow us on social at JA South Florida and visit jasouthflorida.org to learn more. Got a bold story? Reach out. We want to hear it