Education for tourism: a perspective article

2019

Although much of the discussion on the permanent process of innovation focuses on new products and technologies, all innovation is based on challenging existing assumptions and ways of thinking, in particular, it is argued, as a result of education and training. This paper argues that one option for developing the new ways of thinking in the management of innovation in tourism is the use of complicated and miscellaneous tourism educational program models. The analysis of tourism educational developmental history shows that being contemporary it is a new educational sphere. A special place is allocated to analyses of multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary studies in higher education, development educational program models. At the end a suggestion is made to discuss the conceptual issues regarding coordination of the interests of students, employers and teaching staff in enhancing the quality of higher education in tourism. Material for the paper has been gathered through contacting experts in the field and conducting extensive literary reviews. Key words: development of tourism education, tourism educational program models, educational system, multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary studies. Introduction Tourism is a continuously expanding industry with huge economic potential. The World Tourism Organization shows that from 1995 to 2005 tourism globally grew by 4.5%, an increase of over 36 million tourists 1. The tourism product is a composite one with its production, distribution and marketing being configured along a value chain involving many activities which are vertically, horizontally and diagonally related and integrated in varying degrees. In Europe, EU enlargement and diversifying regional economies have opened up new tourist destinations to add to this ever increasing market. Rapid development of tourism industry has involved large amounts of human resources. The number of people occupied in the HORECA sector grows faster than the total labour force. The tourism industry represents about 8.6 mln people employed with 24 mln. in the broad definition corresponding to around 4 and 12% respectively of the total EU labour force. In the period 2000 to 2004 in the 27 Member States of the enlarged Community the growth rate in the number of people occupied in the HORECA sector was on average significantly higher then the growth rate of total employment 2. Latvian tourism is a micro and SME-dominated sector, with over 99% of firms employing fewer than 250 individuals 3. High standards for education and professional qualification are vitally important element. This element is necessary in order to satisfy completely the high demands, wishes and needs of today's tourists. Only in such a way further rapid development of separate enterprises, as well as of the entire sphere is possible. Alongside with the changes in the tourism sphere greater changes are needed in the field of tourism education. The analysis of the qualitative personnel, employed in tourism and other spheres related to it, shows that in many cases the employees are from other spheres-without education or qualification in the sphere of tourism. The leading criterion for the choice of such personnel is the low price, on the one hand, but on the other hand, the quality of such service is a problem. Today it is the most essential factor for the competitiveness of companies. So far, many questions arise for those who train the specialists for a tourism and chains involving many activities. Therefore, within the dynamic approach to innovation in tourism industry, great changes in the tourism educational end training are expected. The problem of the day-clearly anticipate the "real needs" of specialists in the modern tourism industry; which kind of scientific courses and practice we should teach and train;, which initiatives and winning strategies need to be emphasized and any additional questions-how to create a studying-field of the tourism industry.

Tourism Education: life begins at 40 Tourism education is now about 40 years old. It has emerged as a subject of serious academic study from a rapidly growing field of practice. This paper explores the development of knowledge and research about tourism as a background to consider the ways in which the efforts and priorities of those interested in tourism education have changed and it questions whether the subject has reached a stage of maturity. It traces a pattern of change from a focus on vocationalism and the business aspects of tourism during which time attention was given simply to measuring and describing the education provision (the industrial stage); to a stage when other disciplines made their mark on tourism, associated with debates and analysis of the curriculum (the fragmented stage); to a broadening and more general consensus about the curriculum (the benchmark stage); and finally to concerns about the whether we are really taking a full and realistic view of tourism a...

Overtourism and Tourism Education, 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this article is (1) to highlight the dual, Janis-faced, nature of the study of tourism as an industry and as a field of study; (2) to discuss how education is used to promote sustainable tourism and prevent overtourism, both in the academic arena as well as where tourism occurs; and (3) to offer suggestions concerning the value of education as an avenue for harmonizing the Janus-faced character of tourism, in order to foster a tourism industry that can better achieve global sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: This paper combines literature review with assessment. The authors use existing literature on overtourism, tourism education, and critical tourism studies to provide insights into how education can help enhance sustainable tourism practices. Findings: The authors find that there are two "faces" of tourism education, one focusing on growth and capital accumulation, and the other on the critical analysis of tourism, highlighting problems with the industry. The authors propose that this Janus-faced approach to tourism education should be reconciled to enable the promotion of sustainability in the industry and in tourist destinations. Practical implications: This chapter outlines an educational path for tourism and hospitality programs, as well as for local publics, to foster more sustainable forms of tourism and avoid overtourism. Unsustainable tourism, however, is a global problem that requires a concerted international solution. Originality and value: The authors apply the concept of Janus-faced tourism to better understand the divergence between theoretically oriented tourism education in the academy and practically oriented tourism education in management and hospitality schools. This analysis offers suggested paths towards transforming education in both hospitality schools and in local destinations to foster scale-appropriate forms of sustainable tourism.

Challenges of Tourism Education: Emotions vs Business, 2009

Political, socio-economic and cultural changes that have taken place in the world during the last years have influenced all the spheres, including tourism. This sets high standards for the tourism specialists. Therefore it is important to coordinate the work between tourism educators, tourism employers, the demands of the society and the students’ wishes in order to create the curriculum that would suit best to the actual needs of all the stakeholders. The goal of the present research is to study the tourism employers and tourism students’ needs in order to improve the curriculum and find out opportunities for its development. The study was conducted in 2009 in the fourth largest tertiary education institution of Latvia, which among other programmes provides well-acknowledged higher education in tourism. 192 tourism employers and 262 tourism students were questioned applying a similar questionnaire consisting of 5 parts. The questionnaire revealed the employers and the students’ opinion following the students’ training in the industry. The data were analysed applying quantitative data analysis software SPSS Statistics 17.0. Based on the ideas gained from the analysis of the research context and on the findings of the empirical study suggestions to improve the tourism curriculum were elaborated. Key words: development, tourism education, curriculum, needs analysis, leadership

Journal of Tourismology, 2016

The current scientific and academic perspectives of tourism studies are interpreted to understand the viability of Tourismology as a suitable approach to define this area of studies, similarly in Portuguese academy. The paper also aims to study the actual tourism education organization and the institutional background in a national network level. The academic attitudes should be considered and discussed in seminar debates helping to consolidate this scientific study area and facilitate the development of innovative and efficient educational approaches in their academic community. The empirical research is based on secondary data analysis from the higher education institutions (HEI´s), mainly to understand their relative importance in this teaching level and the main approaches that correspond to a certain diversity of types of HEI´s, which have invested significantly in this field since the last thirty years. The methodology is based in a case study from Portugal tourism education. The premise is that Tourism Studies recognition needs a continuous and rigorous diagnostic at a national level, and a consequent formative policy and strategy, to respond effectively to the internationalization challenges. So, we consider the opportunity to develop two important projects: the National Observatory for Tourism Education (NOTE), as a mean to support the management and competitiveness of the tourism education network in the academic community in Portugal; the Research and Education Tourism Network for Lusophony (RETNL), essential to promote a bridge between Tourism academic communities and cooperation for the adequate recognition of the Tourism Studies core and their importance. The study results indicates that Tourismology is increasingly used in the educational community to define tourism as an autonomous field of studies and the Projects named NOTE and RETNL could be important to reinforce this development in Portugal and in the Lusophony.

Tourism Geographies, 2018

Challenges of Tourism Education: Conformity of Tourism Curriculum to Business Needs, 2012

This study was conducted in the fourth largest tertiary education institution in Latvia, which also provides higher education in the field of tourism. The purpose of the research is to study stakeholder needs and to evaluate the knowledge of tourism students, as well as the level of skills and abilities necessary for work in tourism business and to determine opportunities for curriculum development. The study is comprised of three stages: context analysis; a survey of 262 tourism students and 192 employers applying a similar Likert Scale questionnaire; comparing findings with the findings obtained in similar studies in other countries and elaborating conclusions and suggestions regarding curriculum improvement. A quantitative approach conducting primary data analysis (descriptive statistics) and secondary data analysis (Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances, Anova test) is applied to study stakeholder opinion. Findings of the study reveal the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to succeed in tourism business. It indicates that the present curriculum corresponds to the requirements of the industry and student needs. Students highly value the knowledge acquired and the skills and abilities developed during their studies. The employers’ high evaluation of student knowledge, skills, and abilities verifies this fact. The curriculum might be improved by creating modules of related courses, applying a cross-disciplinary approach to studies, using corresponding teaching-learning methods and creating a supportive learning environment, initiating autonomous learning for the students and motivating them for studies. Key words: tourism curriculum; knowledge; skills; abilities

2016

Tourism education offered by higher education institutions providing undergraduate and associate level education plays an important role in training human resources at desired quantity and quality to provide sustainable quality services in the tourism sector where an intense competition is experienced at national and international level. The quality of services offered in the tourism sector which is experiencing an intense competition can be achieved and improved through high-quality employees. The educational service quality in the schools offering tourism education plays a decisive role in making students qualified who will be employed in the tourism sector in the future. In this context, it is of paramount importance to determine the expectations, perceptions and satisfaction of students in terms of the quality of educational services provided in schools. In this theoretical study, student expectations, perceptions and satisfaction have been assessed under the Maslow's Theory...

GEOGRAPHY AND TOURISM, 2021

Goal of research: determination of key guidelines in the educational, methodological, scientific and organizational work of a university teacher. Research methods. Taking into consideration that the training of tourism specialists is a complex dynamic deterministic regulated system, the research was performed on the basis of a system principle within a structural-functional approach using methods of analysis and synthesis, forecasting, analogy, deduction, systematization and generalization. The results of the research: it is determined that the requirements for the training of specialists in the field of tourism are determined by the situation on the world tourist market, the state of the domestic system of vocational education and the principles of functioning of the professional space. The current situation in tourism, education and in the tourism professional space requires a radical restructuring of the education system. In accordance with the basic principles of didactics, the ...

Tourism Management, 2003