Rethinking tourism education: what should schools teach?

Tourism education at universities tends to focus on enabling students for future careers in the industry. Little attention has been devoted to the meaning of tourism education. This paper attempts to promote awareness of overlooked perspectives and critical issues in tourism education by examining two possible approaches to educating future tourism professionals. It discusses tourism education from the perspective of employability as the primary goal. The paper also elaborates on the perspective of providing students with a philosophical and sociological foundation for decisionmaking strategies, as well as for professional preparation.