Tourism

education
Course syllabi in the UK - a review paradigms. Again, the point to note is
that there has been no real attempt
internationally at a systematic inves-
tigation of content and syllabi based
Airey and Middleton provide a review of the syllabi and content of tourism on a number of current courses.
courses currently offered in the UK based on research undertaken by them for One main UK publication which
the UK Tourism Society during 198 1. The article comments on the main themes falls outside this simple classification is
in the development of tourism education and provides a bibliography of recent the Nightingale study. The focus of
contributions on the subject. Also the background and findings of a survey of this work was not on education and
tourism course provision are discussed and some tentative conclusions are training as such, but on the occupa-
drawn. tions, careers and knowledge require-
ments of those working in tourism at a
professional level, many of whom
would have taken some form of tour-
The development of tourism educa- A number of attempts have been ism course. In commenting on know-
tion and training in the UK is marked made in the recent past to examine, to ledge requirements however, the
by three distinctive features. First, document and to comment on the Nightingale report has great relevance
tourism as a subject for study is a development and provision of tourism for tourism course content and curri-
relative newcomer. Courses in tourism education and training. (A bibliogra- cula in that it provides a perspective
were not established until the mid phy of some of the major sources is indicating the areas of knowledge
1960s and many emerged after the mid provided at the end of this paper.) As which tourism courses should be
1970s. Second, the provision is both far as they relate to the UK, these covering, from a consumers stand-
widespread and varied. There are contributions can be classified into point. Indeed, the study represents
currently about 100 colleges offering three main groups. The first give basic the first systematic attempt at estab-
some form of tourism education or details about the colleges and their lishing agreement based on evidence
training. These range from postgradu- respective courses including informa- of what constitutes the body of know-
ate courses to courses for school leav- t:on about types, levels and qualifica- ledge about tourism in the early 1980s.
ers; from courses linked with hotel tions to be achieved. The second set The components of the body of know-
and catering studies to those associ- out the development and current ledge are summarized in Table 1.
ated with business studies and the structure of course provision, and the
travel trade; and from full-time third examine the relevance and
appropriateness of current course pro-
Body of knowledge
courses to those which mix on and off
the job training. The third feature is vision from various standpoints. In The issues of relevance to tourism
the relatively ad hoc way in which the addition, a number of studies have education in the Nightingale study
provision of courses has developed. attempted to place the experience in were summarized by Airey and
the UK into a broader international Nightingale. These are that the body
context. With the exception of some of knowledge defined by the Tourism
Variety and consistency
outlines in the latter, none of these Society and given in Table 1, has a
This is reflected in the variety of sources has attempted to provide any broad general relevance regardless of
courses provided as well as in the detailed analysis on course syllabi and an employees function, level or sector
variety in their content and syllabi. To content. of employment; that certain aspects,
some extent, nationwide consistency In considering sources relating to including knowledge of the compo-
has been achieved through the work of other countries, a number of contribu- nent sectors of tourism, of marketing,
the national validating bodies. Some tions have been published relating to of determinants and motivations and
consistency also comes naturally the North American and European of the meaning of tourism, have a
through the content of basic text experience. These can be classified in special importance for all careers; and
books which provide a starting point a similar way to those relating to the that the most useful tourism courses,
for developing course curricula. Typi- UK. Some of these sources have also at least in terms of eventual careers
cally, however, tourism education and set out to document details of course and career development, are the more
training courses have been characte- provision in terms of content and broadly based courses.
rized by separate developments re- syllabi, but they are either based on The Nightingale study is of particu-
flecting the perceived interests of the the experience of one college or prog- lar interest here not only for its
academic bodies concerned. ramme or on theoretically derived findings but also because it represents

TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984 57

Tourism education

Table 1. The maincomponents of the body of knowledge about tOuriSm

Major components Brief description of contents

What is tourism? Concepts of leisure, recreation, tourism: types of tourism according to purpose: concepts
of tourist destinations, services, industry

Historical development of tourism Past to Worid War II; recent and current - 1945 to 1980: future from 1980 onwards
Determinants and motivations in Factors stimulating growth of tourism (determinants): why people wish to travel
tourism (motivations): influences of supply
Statistical measurement and Types of tourism statistics and their limitations; domestic tourism-sources, methods.
dimenstons dimensions; international tourism - sources, methods. dimensions
Significance of tourism Contribution of tourism to the economy; social significance and impact of tourism: physical
significance - land use, environment
Component sectors Tourist industry and component sectors: economic and operating characteristics Of
sectors: current trends and developments in main sectors
Marketing Role Of marketing in tourist planning and research; markets and products, product
formulation: promotion and sales
Physical planning and development Planning concepts and planning machinery; infrastructure planning and development:
superstructure project planning and development
Organization Structure and roles of government and tourist boards; trade associations and unions,
professional bodies: related public bodies
Finance Operating financial accounts of tourism firms; requirements, sources, methods - tourist
board finance; requirements, sources, methods-development finance

Note: In its attempts to establish the knowledge r~uirements of individuals working al a professional level in tourism. the Education and Training
Committee of the Tourism Society identified the body of knowledge about tourism as consisting of the above major components. Based on Originaf Work by
i.2. Burkart and S. Medik. .
@TheTourism Society, London

a significant step in a continuing pro-
cess of investigation by the Tourism
Society into tourism education and
careers. Following its formation in
1977, the Tourism Society identified at
an early stage the need to undertake a
systematic investigation of tourism
careers and education, if only as a
basis on which to pursue its own
development as a professional body.
The main strands in this investigation
have been on the one hand a series of
conferences and meetings aimed at
expressing the views of employers and
educators. On the other hand the
Society has also been involved in
studies in this area and has produced a
number of related publications. The
Nightingale study is one of these.
Other published studies have included
guides to tourism courses and course
provision, a tourism employment
guide and the study, which is the main
subject of this article, into course
syllabi and content.
In summary, the developments in
tourism education and training to date
have been characterized by their re-
latively ad hoc and uncharted
approach. Increasingly, however, and
particularly through the work of the
Tourism Society, the developments
are being more closely analysed. The
remainder of this paper seeks to pro-
vide the first UK documentation of
syllabi and contents of tourism courses
and the authors see this as a starting
point for further developments in the
1980%
UK tourism courses
Based partly on an appreciation of the
Nightingale study, two particular gaps
in information about tourism courses
were identified for further investiga-
tion. The first was the lack of up to
date information about the types,
levels, content and qualifications of
courses in tourism offered in the UK.
It was known only that the numbers
were developing rapidly and that
structural changes were taking place
and that overall course provision was
the cumulative resuh of dozens of
more or less arbitrary decisions taken
by educational establishments in pur-
suit of their perceived self-interests. A
previous desk research study of
courses had been published by the
Tourism Society- but no field work
was involved at that time.
The second gap was the lack of
precision in the statement of the body
of knowledge which had been put
forward in the Nightingale study
(Table 1). The headings were useful
and valid, but they were not a suffi-
cient basis from which to develop
course content and curricula. As
labels or headings, the Table 1 in-
formation did not reveal the actual
content of courses being taught.
Accordingly, under the auspices of the
Education and Training Committee of
the Tourism Society, the authors
agreed to carry out a survey of tourism
courses and content in the UK. The
study was undertaken in conjunction
with the Association of Teachers of
Tourism and the Association of Brit-
ish Travel Agents and was com-
menced in 1980 based on courses
running in 1980/81.
Research buckgfo~nd
For the purposes of the study, tourism
courses were defined as any course
which involved a minimum of 20 hours
in any aspect of tourism studies. The
meaning of tourism studies was de-
fined as that area of knowledge deline-
ated by the Tourism Societys body of
knowledge (Table 1). It was under-
stood that a tourism course might be
solely concerned with tourism studies,
or it might be a compulsory or option-
al component of a broader course
leading to a qualification in hotel
management, business studies or re-
creation management. etc. For gui-
dance, the authors provided a pro-

58 TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984


visional classification of courses as
shown in Table 2. Short courses were
also included in the study and were
defined as being not less than two days
in duration and not more than four
weeks devoted to one or more aspects
of the defined body of knowledge
about tourism.
Three broad survey objectives were
identified:
to discover information about the
number and type of establishments
offering education in tourism;
to establish information about the
number and type of tourism
courses currently in operation and
their background;
to examine the content of tourism
courses based on the body of know-
ledge as set out by the Tourism
Society.
Three stages were involved in the
preparation of the study. First, a list of
establishments known or believed to
be offering tourism courses was com-
piled from various sources. The list
included all types and levels of estab-
sub heading, respondents were asked
to indicate whether it was included in
their particufar course (at least one
hour of teaching time) and the total
teaching hours were requested for
each topic. A final section of this part
of the questionnaire dealt with practic-
al elements such as ticketing, time
tabling, etc. Comments on omissions
in the body of knowledge were also
invited.
Third, and finally, a pilot test was
carried out. The questionnaire was
pilot tested with the help of six col-
leges and modified on the basis of
comments received. The final version
was mailed in December 1980 to 200
colleges and other establishments,
with follow up in February 1981.
Research findings
Eighty establishments had replied by
April 1981 offering a total of 170
courses in tourism. This was 30 more
establishments than identified
previously and was considered an
acceptable, if not optimum, response.
Most non-respondents were believed
Tourism education
one course per establishment was re-
quested, a total of 58 usable responses
were obtained from the 80 establish-
ments.
The research findings themselves
can be divided into two groups and
were in fact dealt with separately by
the researchers. The first group relate
to the information about the colieges
and the basic information about the
courses offered. These were separate-
ly analysed and the findings were
published in tabular form in the Brit-
ish Tourism Yearbook 1982. This
provided a comprehensive listing of
current tourism course provision in-
cluding college address. course
Table 2. Classification of tourism courses
Tourism courses (qualification in tourism)
Business studies (quatification in business stu-
dies)
Travel agentflour operators course9 (quali-
fication in travel agency and tour operation)
Hotel and catering courses (qualification in hotel
and catering)
Leisure and recreation courses (qualification in
leisure artd recreation)

lishment outside the school sector. In not to be offering courses in 1980/81. Courses for tourist guide9 (guiding qualification)

total about 200 establishments were All the larger colleges known to be Short courses

identified. The majority were colleges offering tourism courses in the UK did Other

in further and higher education.
Second, a ten page questionnaire was
developed under four heads:
Definition of tourism courses (20
hours teaching in any aspect of
tourism; of short courses: not less
than two days and not more than
four weeks).
Basic administrative details about
colleges, including addresses, name
of department, etc.
Detail about courses offered; 14
separate information items were
requested for each course.
respond. For the details of course 7ourism courses are normally options within the
content, where information on only topic areas shown.
Table 3. Elaborated body of knowledge about tourism*
Determinants and motivations of tourism demand
General factors influencing the volume and nature of demand: economic social and cultural (macro
considerations)
Factors influencing why individuals wish to participate in tourism (personal motivations)
Tourism supply factors influencing demand: size and nature of destinations, technology of component
sactors and marketing
Propensities to participate in tourism (based on above factors)
Measurement of tourism flows
Principal users of statistics of tourism (classification of needs)

Detail of syllabus taught; respon-
dents were asked to provide details
about the content of their main
tourism course which was defined
as that involving the largest num-
ber of teaching hours in the col-
lege.
For this purpose, the body of know-
ledge topics (Table 1) were consider-
ably elaborated by a working party of
the Societys Education and Training
committee. An example of this ela-
boration is shown in Table 3. For each
Kinds of data common to most users - statistics of volume, expenditure and tourist characteristics
Statistics of the supply and usage of tourist facilities
Principal methods used for collecting the statistics of tourism
Main sources of tourism statistics
Significance of tourism
The nature, magnitude and significance of tourism at all levels (national, regional and local)
Reference to current assessment techniques where relevant
Specifically significance covers:
- economic significance (balance of payments, employment incomes and output
- social significance (tourists and residents at destinations)
- physical significance (land use, conservation issues)
- other aspects (cultural. political, etc)
Table shows the elaboration of three of the topics

TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984 59

Tourism education
offered, duration, entry requirements,
qualification on completion. The in-
formation was updated and included
in the British Tourism Yearbook 1983.
As the information has been published
elsewhere it is not commented on
further.
The second set of findings relate to
course content and syllabi for selected
courses and these posed much greater
problems for analysis and presenta-
tion. First, respondents often found it
difficult to relate their courses to the
detailed headings and sub-headings
given in the questionnaire. For exam-
ple, where a course dealt with the
marketing function of tourist boards
there was confusion as to whether this
represented coverage of marketing or
of tourist organizations which were
two separate headings. This raised
particular problems with the atloca-
tion of hours and made it very
difficult to compare the content of
different courses. The second problem
was with the tourism courses which
formed a component of larger courses
in, for example, business studies.
Here the difficulty arose when topics
such as marketing or project appraisal
were taught outside the tourism com-
ponent. The problem was whether
they should be included or excluded
from the tourism courses as shown on
the questionnaire. Again this created
comparability problems. Other signifi-
cant problems arose where tourism
courses offered optional elements,
and with assignment based courses
where the teaching hours component
for any one topic heading could be
quite small.
The crucial point underlying these
problems is one of definitions. In the
current stage of knowledge about
tourism there is no absoiute precision
in the meaning and coverage of, for
example, marketing or planning and
development. And in this case, in
spite of an attempt to elaborate a full
description in the questionnaire as to
what was intended by each topic head-
ing. it is clear that there was stiil room
for different interpretations. The out-
come, therefore, is that the findings
could not be expressed with any abso-
lute precision of either content or
hours. However, the responses did
provide plenty of material from which
to draw more general conclusions and
with a total of 58 responses there can
be a degree of confidence that these
provide an adequate representation of
the current state of tourism course
content and syllabi.
Course content analysis
Table 4 gives a general indication of
the course content for a total of 32
courses covering the five most numer-
ous types of tourism course in the UK.
The most important point which
emerges from this analysis is that with
few exceptions. the ten standard head-
ings of the body of knowledge are
generally covered in all the courses.
This at least shows some consensus
among colleges as to what constitutes
tourism. The main exceptions are on
the Business Education Council
(BEC) General courses. Here,
marketing, planning and development
and investment in tourism are less
widely covered. The fact that these are
fairly low level courses with an option
in tourism. for 16 year old school
leavers, often with no O-Ieve entry
requirements, provides sufficient
reason why the more complex issues
raised by these topics makes them less
likely to be included. A similar argu-
ment could be put for the lower
coverage of investment in tourism on
the BEC national tourism course.
Table 3 also shows the response to
the coverage of practical elements
included in the questionnaire which
varied considerably. It is difficult to
draw firm conclusions from this but it
does appear that the vocational skills
element is less common than other
aspects of tourism studies. In a few
cases, however, this aspect is covered
in periods of industrial work experi-
ence ranging from a few weeks to a
few months and this is not revealed in
the analysis.

Table 4. Tourism course content - breakdown of coverage

Number of courses including topic in syllabus

Course BEC* BECb BECC BEC HND Hotel. Cotlege
type Higher National National General and Catering Diploma
Option Compulsory Option Tourism Option

Topic No of
Heading responding 6 6 4 9 7 2
courses
Meaning and nature of tourism 6 6 4 9 7 2
Historical development of tourism 6 6 4 9 7 2
Determinants and motivation of tourism demand 6 6 4 8 7 2
Measurement of tourism flows 6 6 4 6 7 2
Significance of tourism 6 6 4 8 7 2
Component sectors of tourism 6 6 4 6 7 2
Marketing in tourism 6 6 4 4 7 2
Physical planning and development 6 6 3 4 7 1
Investment in tourism 6 4 4 2 7 1
Organization of tourism 6 5 4 7 7 1
Practical element 3 3 3 5 2 1

Note: %EC Higher National Diploma Business Studies - Tourism

BEC National Diploma Business Studies - Tourism option
CBEC National Diploma Business Studies - Tourism compulsory
%EC General Diploma - Travel and Tourism option
Higher National Diploma. Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management - Tourism Option
Courses for school leavers leading to college diplomas

60 TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984

 Tourism education
Respondents were also asked to is explained by definitional differences noted in Table 1. Also. with only a few
indicate omissions from the headings but it is also believed to reflect the exceptions, of which travel geography
included in the questionnaire. The relatively ad hoc way in which tourism is the most common, college respon-
most frequently mentioned topic was courses have been developed. dents did not seek significantly to add
travel geography, especially on lower One interesting point to emerge is to topic headings.
level courses where a knowledge of that a study of the component sectors
place is considered to have a strong of tourism seems to occupy a fairly
vocational relevance. Other issues significant position on all courses, in
Adequate grounding
which were mentioned were course some cases over 40%. The ,vocational Given the findings of the Nightingale
projects, visits and field studies and nature of most courses possibly ex- study, that the body of knowledge has
visiting speakers. These relate more to plains this emphasis. a broad general relevance in later
teaching methods than course content With only a few exceptions, the first employment positions, regardless of
although they do have implications for five topic headings as shown in Table an individuals function, level or sec-
introducing practical elements into the 4, concerned with providing a general tor, then it would appear that tourism
courses. and often theoretical understanding of courses in the UK are providing an
tourism, its background, role and im- adequate grounding at least in voca-
Analysis of hours allocated pact, have a weighting between 5% tional terms. In addition their cover-
In addition to the overall view of and 20%. It seems fairly understand- age of the component sectors which
course content an attempt was also able that courses seek to spend con- Nightingale found to be particularly
made to provide some indication of siderable time in reaching a basic important across all careers is general-
the relative importance attached to understanding of tourism. The only ly good although the fact that some
different topic headings. Respondents real exception to this is in the lower courses ignore completely some of the
were asked to indicate the number of level courses. The three topic head- sectors is a matter for concern. Simi-
hours allocated to the ten main topic ings, Marketing in Tourism, Physic- larly the omission of marketing and
headings and to the practical ele- al Planning and Development and determinants and motivations may be
ments. Also, to provide greater detail Investment in Tourism, are relatively considered a weakness of some
on the coverage of the component specialist areas of study and it is of courses given the identified value of
sectors of the tourism industry (topic little surprise that these are complete- these topics in tourism careers.
heading 6). respondents were asked to ly missing from some of the lower The findings of this paper presented
give a breakdown of the number of level courses. in the broad context of tourism educa-
hours allocated respectively to passen- tion established in other studies noted
ger transportation, accommodation in the bibliography, are offered as a
and catering, tour operation, travel
Conclusions bench mark against which future re-
agencies, tourist attractions and in- The findings presented here obviously search can measure changes over
formation services and guides. represent only a part of the total time. The survey methodology
The problems of definition and information collected in 1981. In par- adopted in 1980181 requires consider-
comparability to which reference has ticular only the main tourism course able improvement, especially in terms
already been made, created difficulty types have been included and much of of common definitions, and it is hoped
in analysing the responses. It would the information on detailed course that such improvements will build on
have been meaningless, for example, content has been omitted. This is the pioneering approaches discussed
to calculate average figures for the partly for reasons of space, but mainly here.
breakdown of hours allocated to diff- because comparability problems
erent topic headings. Not only did would invalidate the results if too David Airey and Victor Middleton
nominally similar courses contain detailed an analysis were attempted. Department of Catering, Hotel and
wildly different hours allocated to On the other hand, what is presented Tourism Management
tourism as a whole, but also the is judged to be significant and to be a University of Surrey
respondents demonstrated different reasonable reflection of current prac- Guildford, GlJ2 5HX, UK
interpretations of the topic headings. tice .
Perhaps the most significant point In drawing conclusions, it is dis-
to emerge from the analysis is the appointing, for example, that it has
sheer range and diversity both in total not proved possible to develop a M.A. Nightingale, Touri.sm Occupations,
Career Profiles and Knowledge, Tourism
hours and in the weighting of course general model of current course provi-
Society, London, 1980.
content. The compulsory tourism sion. But one point which has 0.W. Airey and M.A. Nightingale, Tour-
component of BEC National courses emerged quite clearly is that the body ism occupations, career profiles and know-
for example, ranges apparently from of knowledge developed by the Tour- ledge, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol
66 hours to 230 hours and for the same 8, No 1, 1981, pp 52-68.
ism Society does, by and large, reflect
0.W. Airey and V.T.C. Middleton, A
course, marketing aspects differ in the work which is being done in the guide to tourism courses in the UK in
weighting from 6% to 33%. As colleges. More often than not the Tourism Society Handbook, Tourism Soci-
already discussed, this diversity in part courses include all ten topic headings ety, 1979, pp 61-68.

TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984 61

Tourirm educnrion/Report

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Report
days) in the Mediterranean region,
SpainandMediterraneanpackage offered by the tour operators of the
Northern European originating coun-
tries.
ho~daycompetition~l983 This study is based on the research
commissioned by the former Secretary

Competition between tour operators and the Mediterranean host countries for of State for Tourism, and undertaken
the Northern European holiday market is intense. This report, compiled by the by the private consultants of the Cen-
lnstituto Espsnol de Turismo, published in Spanish in Estudios Turisticos,
tro de Estudios Ttcnicos Turisticos
Autumn 1983, is based on research undertaken by the institute into Spains (Centre for Technical Tourism Stu-
position in this package arena. ~ofidays offered by No~hern European tour dies) and the Gabinete de Investiga-
operators in f4 receiving countries are ana~ysed and the competifive roie of cidn Turistica (Office of Investigation
Spain discussed. in Tourism), both in Barcelona, for
the 1978 and 1980 seasons. The IET
reformulated the methodologies used
in these earlier studies and, using
Tourism policy, like the business poli- receiving areas. Realizing the need to informational support from the data
ties of any industry, must be sup- possess such info~ation, the Institute processing centre of the Secretary-
ported by in-depth studies of the Espafiol de Turismo (IET), in its 1983 GeneraI of Tourism, updated the in-
market which will pinpoint the charac- research programme, included a plan, formation to include data for 1982 and
teristic features of the holiday pro- which was intended to be permanent, 1983.
ducts being offered, their quality and dealing with the evaluation of tour An analysis of brochures published
the level of provision of the tourist- prices for packages (package holi- by the tour operators in the originat-

62 TOURISM MANAGEMENT March 1984