A Comparison Study of U.S. and Non-U.S. Education Internationalization Practices of Hospitality and Tourism Programs

Abstract

This study seeks to determine the practices and perceptions of internationalization in hospitality and tourism education programs throughout different regions of the world. The findings of this research suggest that U.S. hospitality and tourism education programs are behind in the areas of student and curriculum, faculty and research, and the networks and organizational support. However, U.S. hospitality and tourism education programs show comparable results with regard to the reasons, benefits, risks, and barriers to internationalization. This suggests that U.S. hospitality and tourism education programs realize the importance but are not on par with non-U.S. programs in implementation. These findings open discussion of how U.S. and non-U.S. hospitality and tourism education programs can increase their internationalization efforts to compete in the global environment.