India’s rapidly expanding service sector is transforming the way businesses define value, placing experiences, empathy, and human connection at the forefront. In this evolving landscape, hospitality is no longer confined to hotels and restaurants but is emerging as a core capability across industries. In an exclusive conversation with Asmita Mukherjee, Kanav Mata, Director & Regional Head (India, South Asia & Middle East) EHL Hospitality Business School, shares deep insights into how talent needs are being reshaped in an experience-driven economy.
With India’s service sector expanding rapidly, how is it reshaping talent needs in hospitality and beyond?
India right now feels incredibly exciting. India’s service sector is truly the engine of our economy today. According to NITI Aayog’s 2025 report ‘India’s Services Sector: Insights from GVA Trends and State-Level Dynamics’, services now contribute nearly 55% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2024–25, up from about 51% in 2013–14, meaning more than half of India’s entire economy is service-driven. This shift is powering our journey towards Viksit Bharat and positioning India to cross significant economic milestones, including ambitions towards a $10 trillion economy where high-value services play a central role.
We’re also at this incredible moment where the hospitality industry is scaling fast, with a huge pipeline of new hotels and tourism growing strongly. Revenue in the sector is expected to rise 9-12% in 2025-26, and we’re seeing real momentum in both luxury and mid-scale segments.
The service landscape, where every business increasingly competes on experience is reshaping talent needs dramatically. It’s no longer just about delivering a product; it’s about creating meaningful human connections and experiences across sectors. Hospitality sits at the heart of this. At EHL Hospitality Business School, we see this as a tremendous opportunity for India. Our human-centric approach develops talent with strong technical mastery (the hands), genuine empathy and care (the heart), and strategic business thinking (the mind). These skills are highly transferable — whether in hotels, luxury retail, healthcare, or tech-enabled services. By blending India’s natural warmth with Swiss precision, we’re helping create professionals who can elevate service standards across the entire economy and support sustainable, inclusive growth
Our vision has always been to nurture excellence in human experiences, and India offers the perfect canvas for that. We’re not just bringing Swiss know-how from our 132+ year legacy and our consistent #1 ranking in the QS World University Rankings for Hospitality & Leisure Management, we’re blending it with India’s natural warmth and ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ spirit.
A lot of your graduates enter non-hospitality industries. Do elaborate on the trend.
Yes, this is one of the most exciting and consistent trends we observe at EHL Hospitality Business School, and it reflects the true power of hospitality education in today’s service-driven world.
Globally, our graduates achieve an impressive 96% employability rate within six months of completing their Bachelor program. While many begin their journeys in hospitality, which provides an outstanding foundation in operations, guest experience, and team leadership — a significant and growing number move into other service-oriented sectors. In fact, nearly half of our alumni work outside traditional hospitality, tourism, and F&B. You’ll find them thriving in luxury goods and fashion (with brands like LVMH, L’Oréal, and Hermès), finance and banking (such as UBS, JP Morgan, or American Express), consulting (PwC, Deloitte, EY), real estate, marketing, events, tech companies, and even entrepreneurship.
This trend has been strengthening over the years. Recent graduate outcome data shows roughly 44% starting in hospitality, while around 40% enter broader services, luxury, real estate, food industry, and related fields, with the rest in other industries. Companies like Apple, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Tesla actively recruit EHL talent because of the unique blend of skills we develop, while the remaining students continue studying.
How is the definition of hospitality evolving in 2026, especially with its crossover into sectors like luxury retail and healthcare?
In 2026, hospitality is no longer limited to hotels and restaurants, it’s becoming a mindset of caring for people wherever they are and nurturing experiences that are personalised. Whether it’s a luxury retail store creating an emotional connection with shoppers or a healthcare facility making patients and families feel genuinely supported, the core remains the same: excellence in human experiences.
The EHL Insights Report: Hospitality Outlook 2026 captures this shift beautifully, highlighting how the industry is leading the immersive experience economy. Guests today want more than comfort or service; they seek multisensory, co-created moments that deliver emotional value, whether through storytelling, personalised journeys, or wellness experiences.
This evolution is accelerating because of technology. The report’s section on AI Agents in Hospitality shows how autonomous AI tools are streamlining operations, handling routine requests, dynamic pricing, predictive maintenance, and basic communications. This frees up teams from repetitive tasks, reduces workload, and allows staff to focus on what truly matters: genuine human contact and personalised care. In short, as tech automates the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of many processes, service skills, emotional intelligence, and authentic presence become premium differentiators. Scripted service is losing its edge; real empathy and the ability to read people and create spontaneous moments are what guests remember and value most
It plays perfectly to India’s strengths. Our natural ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ culture, when combined with structured training, can set global benchmarks. At EHL, we prepare leaders who can take these principles across sectors. Our educational and training offering emphasise empathy, personalisation, and seamless service, skills that are now in high demand in retail experiences, wellness, and even corporate environments.
What are the biggest talent gaps emerging in India’s hospitality industry as it scales toward a $28 billion market?
As India’s hospitality market moves toward the $28 billion mark in the near term (with strong projections of 14-15%+ CAGR in the coming years), the biggest gaps I see are in mid-to-senior leadership, sales & marketing, revenue management, and consistent service delivery at scale. While entry-level roles in housekeeping or F&B can often be filled, finding people who combine operational excellence with strategic thinking and people leadership is much harder. Attrition remains high in many properties, and there’s a clear need for talent that can maintain quality as we add tens of thousands of rooms.
EHL contributes to all levels of the service pyramid in relation to the hospitality industry. VET by EHL (apprenticeship program) in partnership with CII and run at ITC Hotels, IHCL (Taj), Hyatt across the country contributes to frontline job ready skilling. As we move up the pyramid our Executive Education Solutions rooted in human centric experiences and leadership contributes to mid and senior level leadership. And right at the top of the pyramid is where EHL Bachelor and Master alumni are eventually placed, steering large and complex hospitality organisations.
How can hospitality education move from operational training to building strategic, business-ready leaders?
Hospitality education must evolve from teaching ‘how to serve’ to teaching ‘how to lead and grow a business while keeping people at the centre.’ That’s the real evolution we need today. At EHL, we embody this evolution through our brand essence of Educating Hands, Hearts and Minds. We continue to provide strong operational training, the ‘Hands’. As an essential foundation, while nurturing empathetic leadership and emotional intelligence,the ‘Hearts’, and developing sharp business acumen and strategic thinking, the ‘Minds’. This holistic approach prepares future leaders who can drive sustainable growth and create truly inclusive workplaces.
In India, our programmes blend Swiss heritage since 1893 with local realities. Students and professionals learn not just service standards but also entrepreneurship, sustainability, and how to drive profitability through exceptional practical experiences. This prepares them to lead multi-brand operations, manage P&L, and innovate in a fast-growing market, turning good operators into outstanding business leaders.
The outcome? We turn capable operators into well-rounded business leaders who can manage multi-brand operations, lead diverse teams with care, reduce attrition by building a strong sense of belonging, and innovate confidently in India’s fast-growing market. Ultimately, it’s about preparing the next generation not just to run hotels well, but to shape sustainable, people-first organisations in the wider experience economy.
In an era driven by experience and personalisation, what skills will define the next generation of hospitality leaders?
The next generation will be defined by emotional intelligence, relationship building, adaptability, data-informed intuition, and a deep ability to personalise experiences at scale. Technical skills will remain important, but the real differentiators will be empathy, storytelling, cultural agility, and the ability to lead diverse teams with care.
At EHL, we nurture these through experiential learning and our core values of Excellence, Family, and Lifelong Learning. In India, where guests expect both warmth and world-class consistency, leaders who can blend technology with genuine human connection will thrive, whether in hotels, luxury retail, or wellness. Our alumni network of over 35,000 across 150 countries shows how these skills create lifelong career advantage.
What role does human-centric leadership play in addressing workforce challenges and attrition in hospitality?
Human-centric leadership is the most powerful tool we have against high attrition. When leaders genuinely care for their teams, listening, mentoring, creating a sense of family and growth opportunities, people stay longer and perform better.
This is central to EHL’s philosophy: we believe hospitality starts with how we treat our own people. In India, where long hours and demanding schedules are common, embedding our values of Family and Learning helps reduce turnover and build pride. Our Service DNA culture programmes help hotel groups create environments where associates feel valued, directly improving guest experiences and business results.
Specifically, at HICSA, EHL is curating and delivering a workshop for 75 to 80 top general managers from across the country and brands. The workshop will focus on the strategic challenges faced by general managers and how human centric leadership can be a great tool in solving those strategic challenges.
How do you see India emerging as a competitive global talent market for the hospitality industry?
India has every ingredient to become a major global talent exporter in hospitality, our natural service mindset, young demographic, and massive growth story. With the right education and exposure, Indian professionals can lead not just here but across the world.
EHL is proud to contribute through its various programmes: apprenticeships via VET by EHLin India, Bachelor and Master in our Lausanne Switzerland campus, As more talent gains Swiss-standard training while staying rooted in Indian culture, I see India supplying empathetic, business-savvy leaders to global brands. Our growing alumni community is already proving this.
What are the key shifts you anticipate in hospitality talent and education over the next five years?
Over the next five years, I expect a big shift toward hybrid talent, people who are operationally strong yet digitally fluent, sustainability-aware, and experienced in multiple service sectors. Education will become more flexible, with more blended learning, apprenticeships, and lifelong upskilling. I also see a shift from the traditional degree preference to vocational programs that make you job ready.
In India, we’ll see greater focus on tier-2/3 city talent development and leadership pipelines for rapid expansion. At EHL, we’ll continue emphasising human-centric skills alongside business strategy, preparing leaders who can drive sustainable growth while creating inclusive workplaces. We will also see a shift from the traditional degree preference to vocational programs that make you job ready. This is why we have partnered with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to run an 18-month apprenticeship diploma (VET by EHL) to train frontline workers.
How can the hospitality industry regain the trust of students and young professionals who are now hesitant to pursue careers in this sector?
To regain trust, the industry must be honest about the challenges, long hours, high pressure, while showcasing the incredible opportunities for growth, travel, creativity, and leadership that hospitality offers. It’s also important to educate that hospitality education is no longer just about hotels and restaurants. It has evolved into a broader business education applicable to experience-driven industries such as luxury retail, banking, wellness, aviation, and healthcare.
We need to highlight clear career paths beyond the pure hospitality sector, better work-life practices, investment in training, and stories of successful young professionals. At EHL, our best in class programmes are recognised internally by ourSwiss and international accreditations (like HES-SO, NECHE, and AACSB) offering Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Executive programmes combining Swiss excellence in service with modern business skills, preparing graduates for leadership roles across the global hospitality and service industries.
We further demonstrate this by offering structured both academic and practical approaches with strong placement outcomes and a supportive environment. When young people see respected qualifications, faster progression, and genuine care for their development, they’ll choose hospitality again, because at its best, it can offer amazing careers.
