Tourism Education

Abstract

It is difficult to put a precise date on the start of tourism education but, as the author has already commented (Airey 2005b: 13), it was during the 1960s that “a number of key changes in tourism [itself], in education and in society more generally,” led to the emergence of tourism “both as a clear area of study in its own right and as a subject for study to diploma and degree level and for research.” It was during that decade that many of the early tourism programmes began. They are now celebrating their 40th anniversaries. At this milestone it is interesting to reflect on the extent to which tourism education has reached the stage of maturity associated with 40 years. The purpose of this paper is to make this reflection and, in doing so, to explore the ways in which tourism has emerged and changed and, indeed, has matured. Clearly tourism as a subject for study and tourism education itself has come a long way in 40 years. It has moved well beyond simply the study of an industry or preparation for first employment, and those working in the field have explored and developed the knowledge territory and, after considerable debate, have arrived at broad agreement about a curriculum. From this point it has joined a more mainstream of education reflected here in the consideration about what makes effective teaching in tourism; debates about the broad directions of the curriculum to meet changing knowledge environments; and critiques about the knowledge base itself and how it is developed.