Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Greg Richards
Introduction
The majority of the previous research on
tourism education in the region has been con-
cerned with the content of the tourism curri-
culum. Such studies have also tended to be
concentrated in a few countries, notably Poland
(Golembski, 1991; Airey, 1994, 1999) and
Croatia (Vukonic, 1995, 1996; Kivela 1997a,
1997b; Persic, 1998), which already had a
well-developed system of tourism education
during the Communist era.
This chapter attempts to bring the picture
more up to date, with a review of tourism edu-
cation in the former Communist states and
Malta and Cyprus. It provides a review of some
of the main trends in tourism education in the
new Europe, concentrating particularly on the
development of curricula, human resources and
student exchange.
Since the ATLAS conference on 'Tourism Edu-
cation in Central and Eastern Europe' was held
in Poland in 1995, much has changed in the
landscape of tourism education, both in the new
European Union (EU) member states and the
long established members. This chapter reviews
some of these changes, and compares the situa-
tion today with that in 1995. The analysis is
based on a review of tourism courses and
educational data in the EU, as well as expert
opinions from ATLAS members.
In spite of the significant changes that have
taken place in the fields of tourism and tourism
education in the 'New Europe' in recent years,
there has been relatively little attention paid to
tourism education in the region. The tourism
education bibliography compiled by Tribe (2005)
contains almost 300 references pertaining to
tourism education in different areas of the
world. Of these, only 22 cover the EU enlarge-
ment countries, and of these 12 come from one
single publication - the proceedings of the ATLAS
conference held in Poland in 1995 (Richards,
1996a). However, this also seems to reflect
a broader decline in interest in Central and
Eastern Europe as a focus of tourism research
since the novelty value has worn off (Clarke
et al
., 2001) and as funds for 'knowledge transfer'
projects have dried up.
Significance and Implications of
EU Enlargement for Tourism in
Higher Education
The development of tourism education in
Central Europe has been reflected in the growth
in ATLAS membership in these regions. None
of the European founder members of ATLAS in
1991 came from outside Western Europe, but
membership in Central and Eastern Europe
increased rapidly with the staging of the ATLAS
