The Soft Skills Gap between Vocational Tourism Students and the Needs of the Hospitality Industry: Implications for Global Competitiveness

The competitiveness of tourism human resources (HR) is largely determined by both technical competencies and the mastery of soft skills aligned with industry requirements. This study aims to analyze the soft skills gap among students of SMK Negeri 6 Semarang in relation to the needs of the hospitality industry and to formulate strategies for addressing the gap. The study employed a mixed-methods approach with a sequential explanatory design, involving 103 Grade 12 Hospitality students and 12 industry respondents from six three- to five-star hotels, followed by in-depth interviews with students, teachers, and industry representatives. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Mann–Whitney U test, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings reveal significant gaps across all seven dimensions of soft skills. The largest gaps were identified in critical thinking and problem-solving skills (0.85983), leadership and supervision (0.77265), and effective communication (0.66646). The qualitative findings indicate that these gaps are associated with learning processes that remain predominantly theoretical and insufficiently contextualized, suboptimal teacher competency development and role modeling, the absence of standardized soft skills assessment systems, and industry-based learning experiences and mentoring that require further strengthening. The findings imply the need to strengthen active and contextual learning, implement more practical and applicable soft skills assessment, enhance teacher competencies and role modeling, strengthen school–industry partnerships, and foster students’ character development and mental readiness to reduce competency gaps and better align vocational education with industry requirements.