Circular economy is increasingly regarded as a pathway to sustainable tourism development and a tool to help the industry to tackle climate change. This means that also higher tourism education should renew its curricula and provide students with a set of relevant competencies. Therefore, this article introduces education for the circular economy (ECE) for the first time in higher tourism education and aims at identifying the key circular economy competencies in tourism. In this qualitative study, the data were mainly collected by semi-structured interviews, which were analysed by content analysis to develop a competence profile. The findings indicate that the competence profile for tourism jobs of tomorrow consists of circular management, systems thinking, resource management, circular collaboration and supply chain management, circular innovation, and circular communication as the key circular economy competencies. Based on this profile, tourism teachers can design industry-oriented courses and make informed decisions about their contents and learning outcomes. Hopefully, the article will also inspire a dialogue on education for the circular economy in tourism and support higher education institutions and their teachers in contributing to its circular transition.