Abstract: : The tourism sector offers many and varied opportunities for
working lives across its diverse sub-sectors and at different levels throughout the world. The industry’s heterogeneity, geographical spread and stochastic demand cycle provides both opportunity and challenge in terms of mapping these against the aspirations and expectations of those attracted into the tourism industry, either as new entrants to the labour force or in the context of change opportunities within their working lives. In most developed countries, traditional models of one sector working lives, built on the notion of a logical and progressive career ‘‘ladder’’ represents a reality which will face fewer and fewer entrants to the jobs market in the future.