In the rapidly evolving post-pandemic era, the tourism industry struggles to find new talent and (re)define the (new) skills this talent should have. Higher education institutions’ challenge is preparing graduates in light of the hazy expectations of the tourism industry. This study investigates how collaboration strategies between higher educational institutions and the tourism industry can enhance graduates’ employability. E-mail interviews were conducted with sixteen senior managers across various tourism segments in India. The analysis revealed eight recommended critical themes(strategies) of Industry academia collaboration for improving graduate readiness: training collaboration, embedding technology-based modules, introducing education 4.0, curriculum enrichment, experiential learning, adapting to consumer behavior shifts, and new soft skills. The present study offers a more comprehensive approach to improving the employability of graduates through industry-academia collaboration, in contrast to previous research that concentrated only on curriculum for graduate employability. The study offers a roadmap for the current post-COVID-19 environment for industry-academia partnerships and tourism career trajectories. © 2025 ICHRIE.
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