Reports

Existing provision
Careers in tourism A three-fold classification was made
based on the level of, and existing
nature of tourism courses in the UK:
The educational and training options available in the UK to those wishing to
embark on a career in tourism are described by Dr P. Lavery, Head of Tourism 0 university/polytechnic degree con-
at the Dorset Institute, UK, using information from a study carried out for the taining tourism studies;
English Tourist Board in 1985, and supplemented by more recent information 0 business studies courses containing
or; courses and course developments. The British tourism education system is some tourism study; and
compared to that of other members of the European Community - not always l technical courses focused on a nar-
favourably - and the management implications for new course providers are row definition of tourism.
discussed.
Degree courses
Service industries in general and the shortfalls in provision and to suggest In 1984 at the time of this study there
tourist industry in particular make a ways of meeting these shortfalls. were no undergraduate courses offer-
significant contribution to the eco- ing tourism as the major subject of
nomy of the UK. Over 1.1 million study. Either tourism was offered as
people are currently employed either Method an option in a degree in hotel and
directly or indirectly in the tourist catering management. eg at the Uni-
industry and it directly accounts for The first phase of the study consisted versities of Surrey and Strathclyde, or
4.7% of all UK employment.2 How- of preparing an inventory of existing it was more commonly available at
ever, the subject of education and education and training courses in the postgraduate level.
training for careers in tourism has UK drawing upon data from the fol- In 1963 the University of Strath-
been poorly quantified to date and lowing sources: Clyde which houses the Scottish Hotel
little research has been done in this School established a BA in Hotel and
area. Yet any policies to promote the 0 annual yearbooks of the Tourism Catering Management with tourism as
growth of the tourist industry must Society; an option, and in 1972 the Universities
depend upon adequate numbers of a journal articles; of Strathclyde and Surrey offered
trained people being available at all l Economist Intelligence Unit, Spe- Masters Courses in Tourism. In the
levels within the industry. If the tour- cial Reports; late 1970s. the Centre for Urban and
ist industry is to be encouraged as a a reviews of education and training Regional Studies at the University of
major growth area in the UK economy for careers in tourism published in Birmingham established a Leisure and
it is essential that there are sufficient 1972 and 1975;h and Tourism unit which offered postgradu-
qualified people to prepare and imple- 0 a questionnaire survey of the main ate tourism studies, and the University
ment tourism development plans, schools of tourism. of Bradford Project Planning Centre
manage regional and national tourist developed an MSc/postgraduate diplo-
organizations, and staff the many The first phase produced a database to ma course with a tourism option. The
firms which make up the tourist indus- be used in the main study together University of Loughborough also
try. with a clearer definition of the terms offers a Batchelor and Masters degree
Education and training is taken to education and training for tourism. in Recreation Management with some
mean educational and vocational The literature review suggested that tourism content. The relatively recent
training courses covering the whole the Tourism Society definition of origin of the few university courses
field of further and higher education, courses offering at least 20 hours per highlights the limited recognition
from technical colleges through to week of tourism topics should be used given to tourism as a subject worthy of
universities, which are aimed at rais- to identify the main centres of tourism serious academic study, and it has
ing the level of skills and knowledge education. On this basis visits were made been the newer more technically
needed to work in the tourist industry. in 1984-85 to all the main centres orientated universities that have
The study focused on the non-hotel of tourism teaching and, using a pioneered tourism education at degree
sectors of the tourist industry because structured questionnaire, face-to-face level.
it was felt that the hotel and catering interviews were held with senior mem- Since this study was undertaken,
sector was well developed and that bers of staff. A wide range of informa- two first-degree courses in tourism
training in the tourist services sector is tion was obtained on teaching prog- studies have been approved at the
in a much earlier stage of development rammes, curriculum content, course Dorset Institute of Higher Education
and has quite different manpower and objectives, demand for places, links and Newcastle Polytechnic. These are
training requirements. The aim of the with industry and related issues. One both four-year sandwich degrees with
study was to examine the existing final aim was to forecast, with the students spending the third year work-
provision of education and training consensus of this expert opinion, the ing in the tourism industry.
courses in relation to the manpower likely developments in the main cen- As knowledge about tourism has
needs of the industry, to identify tres of tourism teaching up to 1990. grown and become more sophisti-

TOURISM MANAGEMENT June 1988 167

Reports
cated. there have been two effects.
First, tourism has begun to obtain a
recognized place in more degree
courses - for example in geography
degrees - albeit in a limited way: and
second there is now a common curri-
culum emerging in relation to the
topics covered. These generally in-
clude:
0 the significance and characteristics
of tourism;
0 the social and economic impact of
tourism:
0 international tourism trends;
l planning and development of tour-
ism: and
0 the impact of tourism development
on the Third World.
Unlike the continental universities
where languages form an integral part
of the undergraduate courses, in the
UK languages are offered as options
only. A further contrast between Brit-
ish and continental university practice
is that the British first degree courses
place more emphasis on periods of
industrial placement within the
course.
However, there is a general tenden-
cy, particularly in Europe to place
most emphasis on the theoretical
aspects of tourism. This is in part a
reflection of the background of the
staff teaching on the tourism courses.
At Surrey and Strathclyde the major-
ity of the staff have experience of
working in the tourist industry where-
as staff in the continental universities
generally lack such experience. This
tends to perpetuate a theoretical, as
opposed to an applied approach, to-
wards the teaching of the subject.
Bminess studies cowses
Such courses are in the minority in
Europe, but have grown in popularity
in Britain since the late 1970s. In
Europe the main centres are the
Netherlands Institute of Tourism and
Transport Studies, Breda, the Frrclr-
kocksckde (Technical Universities) at
Heilbronn, Munich, Wurms and Kem-
pen in West Germany. In Italy and
Greece there are no high-level state
schools of tourism. In the UK in 1983
there were five institutions offering
business studies (tourism) courses. By
1957 there were 17 institutions offer-
168
ing Higher National Diplomas. These
are validated by the Business and
Technician Education Council and
therefore a common format generally
exists, with a number of core business
studies subjects taken together with
several travel and tourism options.
The common characteristic of these
courses is their concentration on the
business of tourism and the range of bus-
iness disciplines needed to sustain it.
The polytechnics and colleges offer-
ing these HND courses generally
stress the business studies underpin-
ning and the need to set them in the
context of the tourism industry. Given
these broad objectives the institutions
do vary in how they seek to achieve
them, particularly in their treatment
of the tourist content of the course.
Thus the Ealing course contained two
tourism modules out of nine core
modules and a further four tourism
option modules out of 15 options (two
must be chosen).
Bristol had a similar course struc-
ture and like Ealing operates the
course as a three year sandwich.
Dorset operates a similar mix of core
and option courses but uses cross-
modular assignments through a tour-
ism case study to integrate some or all
of the elements covered in other parts
of the course. None of these courses
includes a language as a core subject.
although several offer at least one
language as an option. This is in
marked contrast to similar level
courses in other EEC countries which
generally include two to four lan-
guages as in integral part of the
course.
Technicnl courses
The students on these courses tend to
be quite young (16 to 18 years old) and
the overail emphasis is less an the
academic aspects of tourism and
rather more on the development of a
narrow range of technical and practi-
cal skills. In the UK there has been a
rapid growth in such courses, mainly
in the further education sector. At the
time of the study in 1984 there were
170 travel and tourism courses at the
BTec National level or below. By 1987
there were 351 non-advanced tourism
courses - a doubling of provision in
just three years.
TOURISM
In the UK three types of qualifica-
tion were available. the Certificate of
Travel Agency Competence
(COTAC). the Susiness and Techni-
cian Ordinary National or General
Diploma and the institute of Travel
and Tourism Examinations. Through-
out each course the emphasis is on
practical training and the main topics
are ticketing and air. rail, coach or
hotel reservations. financeitravellers
cheques. sales techniques and custom-
er relations. Most of these colleges
also seek the approval of the educa-
tion and training board of the Associa-
tion of British Travel Agents (ABTA)
and the successful students generally
find jobs with retail travel agents.
Ireland has eight technical colleges
based in Dublin and the main provin-
cial cities, each offering vocational
courses for the tourist industry which
are approved centrally by the Council
for Education Recruitment and Train-
ing (CERT) for the Hotel, Catering
and Tourism Industries. in coopera-
tion with the Ministry of Education.
They offer a one-year full-time course
with a strong emphasis on skills train-
ing (ticketing, reservations, hospitai-
ity) linked to a work esperience prog-
ramme.
The clearest definition lies bet\veen
the vocational training courses offered
in the UK and those offered elsewhere
in the EEC. In Ireland, Belgium,
France, Italy and Greece the courses
are all controlled by the ministry of
education and the state has estab-
lished a countrywide spread of institu-
tions to provide vocational training.
Moreover, in these countries the state
has recognized that tourism training
should come within the province of
the educational establishments. In the
UK there is no clear or single recog-
nized system of socational training
and several bodies have independently
of one another attempted to establish
training programmes and levels of
competence. At the national level
there are four different and overlap-
ping sets of qualifications-the Certifi-
cate of Travel Agency competence,
the Business Education Council quali-
fications, those of the Institute of
Travel and Tourism. and the Air
Transport and Travel Industry Train-
ing Board. In addition. the Manpower
MANAGEMENT June 1988
 Reports
Services Commission sponsors a national or international level. There lished a Youth Training Scheme fo-
Youth Training Scheme in tourism was a limited awareness of the import- cused on travel and tourism.
and individual colleges offer their own ance of tourism education on the part Within the European Community
diploma courses in tourism. of politicians. (Since the study in 1983 there is a need to adopt similar mea-
In these other member states with the UK government has given this sures and to seek greater reciprocity of
standardized state-supported training matter increased attention, and this is tourism education and training be-
programmes the industry thus has a discussed later.) tween member states and to widen the
clear understanding of the level of Only a limited number of colleges scope for post entry education and
vocational training and the standards keep records of the career history of training. Finally, there needs to be
achieved regardless of where this former students. and thus lack any further research into the exact re-
training was received. In the UK the objective standard by which to mea- quirements of the tourist industry and
value of the award often relates to the sure the usefulness and relevance of the motivations and aspirations of new
reputation of a particular institute their courses. entrants to the industry. There is also
rather than a general recognition of There is a general absence of a clear an urgent need to relate the annual
the course completed. career development path for new en- output of students seeking careers in
General conclusions about current trants to the industry. Few schools of the tourist industry to the manpower
course provision have been grouped tourism have established a regular requirements of the industry. Unless
under three main headings and are dialogue with the industry, so that this is done there is a danger of over
discussed below. they can communicate their percep- provision for this sector of the eco-
tion of what is required and obtain nomy.
.S1t# renclzitzg 011 rowism coimes from industrialists a view of the indus-
There is a general shortage of experi- trys needs. There is a lack of post
Management implications
enced and trained teachers of tourism experience courses to provide educa-
and this has prevented tourism tion and training for people who are The rapid growth in tourism courses
teaching being more effectively de- already working in the tourist indus- between 1979 and 19Si has taken
veloped in the further and higher try. place without any clear guidance or
education sector. Too few teaching direction on the number. type and
staff have experience of working in the Career prospects quality of courses needed. Many of
tourism industry and this is reflected the new courses are lo\\-level ones
Although many tourism courses have
in the way in which tourism is taught. often developed by staff \\ith limited
been successfully developed over the
In nearly all cases the courses that academic expertise or industrial ex-
past 10 years, a large proportion of the
exist have been developed as a result perience of the tourist industry. There
industry has reservations about em-
of academic enterprise rather than is a tendency of courses below HND
ploying graduates. However, if this
industrial demand. This has resulted level to be largely directed toivards the
attitude persists, the industry risks
in an rrd /IOC approach to course travel agency and tour operations
losing this source of managerial talent
development and in part explains the sectors, whereas in Europe most simi-
to more far-sighted industries. This is
variety of courses available. lar level courses have a much broader
exacerbated by the relatively low
view of tourism. Institutions or indi-
levels of pay and sometimes poor
Qunlifications md cowses viduals considering the introduction of
working conditions which usually re-
Since tourism is a relatively new sub- new tourism education and training
sult in students graduating and finding
ject of study, no common curriculum initiatives should consider the follow-
that the positions offered do not live
has emerged, and there are a variety ing factors:
up to expectations.
of training courses and policies on Future prospects are brighter be- 0 industrial demand;
education and training for careers in cause several initiatives have been 0 existing provision locally. regional-
tourism. At the technical education introduced since this study was com- ly, nationally;
level there is a marked contrast be- pleted in 198-t. In the UK the govern- 0 staff development;
tween the content and emphasis of ment has given much greater priority 0 resource implications for new
courses in the UK and those offered in to tourism matters, has established an course development; and
the rest of the European Community. Education and Training Unit in the 0 structure and content of the course.
In the UK the emphasis is on a much English Tourist Board, the Depart-
narrower range of skills aimed at the ment of Education and Science, and lndushd detnnnd
travel agency/tour operations firms, Manpower Services Commission There should be clear evidence of a
and language skills tend to be neg- (MSC) have sponsored over 40 Local market need for an education or train-
lected. Collaborative projects between col- ing initiative. This may be obtained by
leges and the tourist industry as part of discussions with, or questionnaire sur-
Edwzation ntzd training policy the PICKUP programme (Profession- veys of. local and regional representa-
There has been a general absence of al and Commercial Updating), and the tives of the tourist industry, the in-
research into the demand for tourism MSC in conjunction with the national dustrial training boards and employers
diplomates or graduates at either training board of ABTA have estab- associations. It will include an oppor-

TOURISM MANAGEMENT June 1988 169

Reports
tunity to determine their views about a
range of issues. eg type of graduate or
diplomate they normally employ, the
manpower needs of the industry, the
qualities or skills most in demand. etc.
This can be supplemented by estab-
lishing an external advisory panel in-
cluding industrial members. This
panel can play an important part in
commenting on the design and content
of the proposed course and will pro-
vide a valuable link between educa-
tional establishments and the industry.
This is a major part of any market
research and institutions need to
establish the scale of existing provision
and the strengths and weaknesses of
existing courses. They also need to
begin discussions with the appropriate
national validating body (if the course
is to receive national or official recog-
nition) to establish what criteria must
be met in the design, content and
length of the course.
Staff dfveloptm~it
Given that experienced and well-
qualified tourism specialists are
scarce, institutions need a staff de-
velopment programme as an integral
part of new course proposals. TWO
kinds of staff development are gener-
ally required:
(1) Staff development must bring staff
rapidly into the focus of new course
proposals. This can be by means of
engagement in full-time secondments
to university postgraduate tourism
courses or to industry to strengthen
their industrial experience.
(2) There should be continuing staff
development. iLlany staff teaching on
tourism courses may have good
academic qualifications but lack in-
dustrial experience, or they may have
been recruited from the industry but
their experience may now be 10 years
out of date. Given the rapidly chang-
ing nature of the tourist industry there
is a need for all staff to have periods of
short-term secondments back into the
industry to update their knowledge of
the product and to establish good
working relationships with individual
companies working in the industry.
The word resource has a number of
meanings here and includes making
time available for staff development
purposes, providing travel costs and
related opportunities for industrial
liaison, and acquiring the necessary
learning resources to teach tourism,
including books, tutor packs. micro-
computers. viewdata sets and support-
ing software.
Institutions will need two or three
years lead time in planning new tourist
courses and will need to set aside
finance to meet staff development
costs, book and journal acquisitions
and investment in information tech-
nology. The latter is crucial because
tourism perhaps more than any other
industry is investing in new technology
related to information systems, book-
ing and reservation systems and the
electronic storage and transfer of data.
Students should have hands-on ex-
perience of this technology if they are
going to be competitive in the market-
place.
Proposefi corrrse
Several issues need to be considered
when designing a tourism course.
These include the entry qualifications
required, the decision to adopt a
thematic or discipline-based
approach, the range of specializations
to be covered, the attainment of skills
such as keyboard skills, and the bal-
ance between theory and practice
throughout the course. Given that
tourism courses are generally highly
vocational, it may be thought desir-
able to include an industrial experi-
ence element in the course. This can
vary from occasional day visits to
firms, to periods of industrial place-
ment ranging from a few weeks to a
whole year. For example, the new
degree courses at Dorset and Newcas-
tle both include a one-year industrial
placement in the third year of a
four-year course. An external advis-
ory panel can have an important role
in providing guidance and advice ab-
out the content of the course and the
range of skills and knowledge required
by the student who successfully com-
pletes it. They can help to draw up a
profile of the typical graduate or
diplomate and the qualities or attri-
butes that he or she should possess.
This information can be used in the
course development process.
General conclusions
There has been a rapid expansion of
provision of education and training for
tourism since 1979, and this shows no
signs of slowing down. In 1955-56
there were over 12 000 students study-
ing travel, tourism or leisure-related
courses and by 19874% this number
had increased by 30% to over 16 500.
About 2500 of these are in the higher
education sector. There are a further
3000 students on courses where tour-
ism is a minor component.
Assuming an optimistic growth rate
for new jobs in the tourist industry the
annual intake by the industry of those
with a knowledge of travel and tour-
ism is about 13 500. It is clear that
with the rapid growth of tourism
courses there is a danger of over-
provision of education and training if
existing trends are allowed to con-
tinue.
The rapid growth of tourism-related
courses has meant that while many
staff teaching on them have academic
qualifications, only a limited number
of these relate This could
to tourism.
result in significant differences in the
quality of courses and in the know-
ledge or range of competence among
new entrants to the tourism industry.
Staff development can play a key role
in supporting and encouraging the
raising of standards and in helping to
produce trainers and educators who
are aware of the latest developments
in the industry.
P. Lavery
Dorset Institute
~a~l;sdown Road
Poole
Dorset B/-i12 5BB, UK
Notes
This report is based on a study carried out
for the English Tourist 3oard. although any
views and opinions expressed here are
solely those of the author.
P. Lavery, Educafiun and Training for
Careers in Tourism in Great Britain, Report
prepared for English Tourist Board, ETB,
1985.
*British Tourist Authority, Employment in
Tourism, ETB, London, 1982.

170 TOURISM MANAGEMENT June 1988

3See eg Tourism Society Yearbook 1983;4 Organisations. Compilation and Preiimin- colleges offering lower level courses - out
which provides a guide to training provi- ary Analysis of Information on Education of a total of 105 colleges.
sion and a full listing of Colleges and and Vocational Training Programmes, This figure is based on the assumption
courses. IUOTO, Geneva. 1972; and M. Lawson, that one million people are directly em-
See eg D. Airey, Tourism education in Teaching Tourism: Education and ~ra;n;~~ ployed in tourism, about 10% leave the
the United Kingdom. Tourism Review, Vol in Tourism in Western Europe, Tourism industry each year, that about 35 000 new
2. No 2, 1979, pp 13-15. International Press, London, 1975. jobs are created each year and that about
5Economist Intelligence Unit, Tourism A structured questionnaire was used in 10% of the workforce require a knowledge
Education in Europe, Special Issue No 20, face-to-face interviews with senior staff in of travel and tourism. Over 1000 of these
EIU Bulletin 1976. all those colleges offering degree or HND recruits are likely to be at management
61nternational Union of Official Travel courses in tourism and in two thirds of Level.

Wanderingwomen
Tothe uttermost ends of the Earth
Born into a good middle-class family, kept on going and going, uriting anti but the astute editor of L&rtre Hotrr
well connected in the professions. had writing. In nine books and many got permission to publish them in his
no formal schooling but was Lvidely articlrs she described her journeys magazine. They \YWZ so well recriv~d
read and well educated, gave up years across the world - the Rocky Moun- that lsahrlla decided to prssrnt them
of her life to louk after an ailing tains. the Sandwich Islands, to the public in a separate
parrnt. hiphly inttlligcnt and a shrewd Japan. Persia, Korex, form, as a record of
jurigo of pcopl2, quict in niann~r but Chime. and a very interesting
unshak~ahle in ~l~t~rmin~ition. srlf- Tibet. travelling
txliant and most rrl;ourcefui - th;tt
cat;iloguz offers it st;mdard formula
that drscribcs tnan~ of the most rc-
niark:tblc Victorian uonicn. It c<rtain-
ly fits isafxlla Bird and ~~Jx-y Kingsley
- trxscllers extraordinary - who saw
ntorr of the world. wsnt further and
had more to say about their traxls
than all but the Spekrs and Burtons
among 19th century males.
Indeed, thz rrtcorcf for Isabella Bird
begins like a stock entry in the hiog-
raphirh of many celebrated Victorian
women: born in IS31, the child of
earnest and high-minded parents. con-
nected with the reforming clan of the
Wilhcrforces, gre\v up in a close fami-
ly circle, and then at IS took to hrr
couch and needleu-ark to escape the
tedium of her life. The transformation
began of a sudden in 1851, when her
doctor diagnosed Lvhat nowadays goes
by the name of depression, and pre-
scribed a long sea voyage. That escape
to the outside world proved an instant books began as * tnce, and of a
and ideat remedy. Isabrlla Bird set off the result of pure phase of pioneering life
with one hundred pounds from her chance. They \vsrc originally which is rapidly passing away.
father. and she made strai_rht fat letters to her sister \vho staved behind That was the introduction to A
C;mada and the Cnitcd States. For at home in Edinburgh. .\v;itten with- Lacl~s Life itf rlrr Rocky .Uottntirin.v
close on half a century afterwards she out the rrmoteSt idea of publication.. (1879) which is in man! ways her

TOURISM MANAGEMENT June 1988 171