‘Citizen of the World’ or ‘Management Puppet’? The Place of Tourism Studies in Higher Education

Abstract

The significant role of tourism as an agent of change in global society makes its study a relevant one for higher education. However, how tourism manifests itself in higher education can vary from a management orientation to a multi-disciplinary social science studies based approach. But how tourism curricula are decided is not a decision of academic judgement. Neither tourism nor tourism education exists in isolation of a wider political economic system that is increasingly dominated by neo-liberalism and the market mechanism as a means of resource allocation. In many Anglo-Saxon countries including Britain the use of markets is also applied in higher education to decide how educational resources should be distributed. Coupled with a need for students to pay fees for study and take loans to support themselves through their university studies, there is increased pressure for vocational degrees). In tourism, this would typically manifest itself by management studies becoming the core of a tourism degree programme. This paper argues that there are dangers to this approach because it can produce a reductionist perspective of the tourism system and also reduce the analytical ability of students to understand the social world that surrounds them and that they shape. It concludes that tourism studies courses need to be based upon knowledge and theory rooted in the social sciences.