Report overview
This report presents findings from an evaluation of the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit, an output of the Serving the Future Project, which ran from January 2022 to December 2025. Following an overview of the Serving the Future project and the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit, the report discusses the evaluation of the first ten months of the Tourism and Hospitality Toolkit. The report includes our approach, methods, and limitations of the evaluation, and the website analytics (February-December 2025), before analysing findings from a survey, interviews, and a focus group.
The Serving the Future project
The Serving the Future project was a multi-year action research project focused on understanding, reducing, and preventing in-work poverty in the Scottish hospitality sector. Running between 2022 and 2025, the project worked directly with employers and people with experience of low-paid hospitality work. It took a variety of approaches to identify changes that can take place at an organisational level, as well as necessary policy or systems-wide changes that are required across Scotland.
The Serving the Future project was born out of a recognition that the hospitality industry urgently needs sustainable solutions which improve the situations of both employers and workers. By working with both business owners and managers, and employees in the sector, the project aimed to contribute to these solutions through research.
Serving the Future was funded by The Robertson Trust and delivered by the Fraser of Allander Institute (based at the University of Strathclyde) and The Poverty Alliance.
Authors
Lauren Wilks
Lauren is a Senior Research Officer at the Poverty Alliance. She is part of the Serving the Future research team.
Chirsty is a Knowledge Exchange Associate at the Fraser of Allander Institute where she primarily works on projects related to employment and inequality.
Brodie is a Knowledge Exchange Associate at the Fraser of Allander Institute.
Anna Hirvonen
Anna is a Learning and Engagement Officer at the Poverty Alliance. She is part of the Serving the Future research team.