The Tourism and Hospitality Sector of the International Economy - Essay Example

Lecturer Paraphrasing Text A lot of changes are occurring within the advanced industrial organizations. The changes are influence through deliberate and unintended results of technological and economic advancements. The education section experiences the changes, because appropriate developments illustrate many challenges in the transformation of the entire education sector; for instance academic curricula, education materials, educational stakeholders, and institutional processes. The tourism and hospitality sector of the international economy, possess operating and staff features, which separate it from the other sectors of the economy. This illustrates direct effect on the performance of the training and education sector (Baum, 2001) Text 2 The Barnett learning triangle is very significant. It enables the analysis of three main concepts. The concepts are; the society, higher education and knowledge. The influences of the three terms are interconnected. In the present society, they are constitutive partially. Text 3 The level of tourism programs delivery according to the vocational aspects directed at promotional literatures and also the validation documents may b easily challenged. Undergraduate tourism course have been greatly publicized in recent years, through the internet and the prospectuses, as employment preparation in the tourism and service related sectors, as shown by the 1997 Airey and Johnson study. But, the study illustrated that many tourism lecturers seem to be following the liberal vocationalism approach (Silver and Brennan, 1988). The approach of course delivery that integrates the academic and vocational perspectives, as illustrated by Raffe (1994), illustrates aggressive education approach, in spite of the illustrated aims that enhance the employment preparation perspective. Text 4 The flexible perspective to directing the vocational programs in HE towards the general work preparation, instead of illustrating explicit tourism jobs has been shown through the introduction of the undergraduate tourism courses. The tourism courses are simultaneously illustrated as providing both education for and about, as shown by Business Studies (Macfarlane, 1994). Tourism lecturers explain that tourism development is determined by two issues. Firstly, concentrating on the knowledge and skills enhancement of the subject; and secondly, on the generation of transferable academic competencies. Text 5 Jafari (1997) illustrated the development of three classification of tourism in HE. The classes are; tourism, hotel and also hospitality. The classification focuses the graduates towards certain categories of employment. The classification also minimizes the abilities of the graduates to know the big picture that illustrates tourism. He compared tourism to the concept of the human body. The human body is made up of a total system that has important organs, which separately and also collectively determine the survival and the wellbeing of the entire body. Each organ is a complete entity; however, the several organs are connected and they cannot operate without the function support of other body organs. When this perspective is applied to the tourism system, then the different organs involve tourism developers, accommodation providers, and tourism planners. It is appropriate for the students pursuing tourism academic programs, to be given the opportunity of analyzing the whole tourism system, which involves the macro environment. After understanding the whole system, the students can then analyze the micro tourism aspects at more specialized perspective. Academic programs are supposed to be emancipatory; hence enabling students to understand tourism from many perspectives (Barnett, 1990:91). Jafari explains the significance of the greater tourism system. When tourism students adequately reflect on the greater tourism studies, they are enabled to understand the greater tourism contexts, and not just the minimal operational fields. The implication of this research perspective is that adequate evidence exists between the tourist programs, which offer the whole system perspective (education about tourism), and the approach that deals with the operational tourism field (education for tourism). The level of balancing the two approaches is very significant in this academic study. The concept of analyzing the benefit of the study in HE is not recent. Silver and Brennan (1988) and Macfarlane (1997) have illustrated the distinction of the business studies program as for or about business. Text 6 The tourism issue provides two unique faces. One tourism profile entails the tourism business, and the other profile illustrates socio-economic and physical aspects of tourism. Also, the tourism knowledge revolves around two issues; firstly the tourism business, and secondly tourism analysis in terms of people and place. In this scenario, the performance activity enhances the function of business knowledge (Tribe 1999). Text 7 The partial aspect of the tourism curriculum entails vocational training that is directed towards managerial actions. The management actions are very critical for the tourism industry and business success. The partial curriculum enables the students to be partial masters of the tourism actions. The vocational curriculum is associated with appropriate actions, which are judged by contributions to the business efficiency. This category of vocational tourism training is illustrated in the general advancement of higher education process, from liberal to vocational, as noted by Barnett (1992). Maybe, this should not be viewed as the problem, because we desire a competent workforce that exploits appropriately the improving tourism sector. It becomes challenging if the curriculum is not only vocational, but also vocationalist. Vocational training concentrates so much on the practical skills during work situations (Tapper and Salter, 1978 cited in Tribe, 1999). The emphasis is mainly on practical competencies, which are exclusive, ideological, and guards the curriculum against other unnecessary discourses. This challenge is illustrated by Harbemas (1978). He explains the colonizing approach of the instrumental knowledge, which leads to the displacement of the various ethical forms. Also, Minogue is against the education process where the young students are subjected to passive acceptance and the adherence to social injustices in their communities. (1973:205). Within the vocationalism education approach, the greater ethical perspectives of appropriate actions are minimized, and the good actions remains basically those suitable for the production activities of the tourism business in the tourism sector. In this scenario, technical efficiency is desirable. Approaches leading t the favorable development of the tourism society and world are thus not encouraged. Text 8 The education curriculum illustrates a given perspective of skills and knowledge. Hence, it is challenging to analyze the issue of tourism curriculum; this is until the concept of tourism knowledge has been effectively analyzed. Text 9 There has been continuous education debate, as to if tourism study entails a field or a discipline. Goeldner (1988) considers tourism as a category of a discipline. He views the tourism discipline as being at the formative stages, just like Business administration. This is because the tourism discipline was introduced in the United States approximately 40 years ago. Cooper on the other side, illustrates that tourism comprise a study domain; however, presently it has insufficient theoretical underpinning levels, which will qualify it as a discipline (1993:1). Hirsts (1965, 1974, cited in Tribe, 1999) explanations of fields and disciplines can act as appropriate frameworks for the analysis of tourism studies in this scenario. However, Hirst has reviewed his perspective on the knowledge forms, as the significant characteristic of the liberal education. He still believes that the theoretical forms categories can be understood through the logical characteristics and truth criteria involving the prepositions that they are mainly concerned with (Hirst, 1993:196). Hirst (1974) explains the limited number of the categories of knowledge and disciplines. He provides the meaning of knowledge or discipline as the “distinct way in which our experience becomes structured round the use of accepted public symbols" (p. 44). Later on, the categories of knowledge of Hirst have been illustrated as: Philosophy Human sciences Religion Mathematics literature Human sciences History Hirst explained that the categories of knowledge are unique, according to four approaches. First, each and every knowledge form has a network comprising interrelated concepts. For instance, the central concepts in the physical sciences entail acceleration, light, heat and gravity. The concepts are unique to only the physical sciences form of knowledge. Secondly, the concepts provide a unique network, which provides the distinct logical structure of the form. Thirdly, every form has statements that are appropriately testable against experience, through procedures which are unique to only that form. The forth result of classifying the knowledge forms as illustrated by Hirst entails their irreducible nature. Irreducibility means that it is impossible to further divide the knowledge forms. They are the basic building blocks of knowledge. Hirst hence illustrates that the knowledge forms and disciplines illustrates the basic methodological procedures of analyzing the external world. Irreducibility must not be confused with the concept of indivisibility. This is because all the knowledge forms can be further subdivided into smaller disciplines. For instance, the physical sciences can be further subdivided into chemistry and physics. The main issue concerning these disciplines is that they illustrate a unique set of theories that enables improvement of the discipline by research methodologies and knowledge. Tourism studies cannot be considered as a discipline due to various reasons. This reasoning will be further analyzed by the discipline characteristics as formulated by Hirst. Firstly, the tourism studies have several concepts. Examples of these concepts are; destination life cycle, yield management, tourism motivation, tourism multiplier, and tourism impact. However, the concepts are not only unique to tourism studies. These concepts were initiated elsewhere in other disciplines, and are then contextualized according to the tourism dimension. For instance, the tourism multiplier effect was derived from the field of economics. The multiplier effect illustrates the level at which tourism expenditure is illustrated in a given region. Also, the destination life cycle was initiated through the field of marketing. Secondly, the tourism procedure and concepts do not produce distinctive network. The concepts are usually separate and atomized. Hence, they must be understood basically according to logical process of the initiating discipline. The concepts don not link or integrate together in a logical approach to initiate tourism studies approach of studying the world. The only link entails the study object, which is referred to as tourism. The field concepts do not possess special links. They do not illustrate a theoretical framework which is cohesive. Due to this reason, there is no unique logical pattern of tourism studies. Third, tourism does not possess expressions that are testable with experience, through criteria that are unique to tourism studies. Hirst provides cases of sciences applying empirical studies, and mathematics usage of deductive reasoning through axioms set. Tourism studies also do not give truthful criteria concerning it; instead, it applies criteria that are illustrated in the contributory disciplines. Hirts also addressed the aspect of field of knowledge. In his view, the fields of knowledge are not disciplines, or even sub disciplines. The main reasoning is that a field does not possess the coherence related to the discipline. The fields and the disciplines interact in the phenomenological world through diverse ways. A field provides techniques in terms of tools, methodology and acquired knowledge. Disciplinary spectacles are given by each discipline. The spectacles show unique world truths. Hence, a physicist observes the external world in a given approach. For instance, physicist interest in global tourism may involve aspects like; why aircrafts fly through aerodynamics. Text 10 Fields operate in opposite directions. Fields are developed through focusing on certain phenomena and practices; for instance, trade, tourism and education. Adequate consultation is then conducted on several disciplines, so as to explain the interest areas. Knowledge moves in separate directions among the disciplines and the fields. Henkel (in Boys et al 1988:185) analyzed and contrasted disciplines that are combined through constellations of processes and theories, with the fields that use diverse knowledge to analyze them. Hirst (1965:1130) analyzes fields as being developed through developing practical pursuit and knowledge, which is basically rooted in diverse disciplines. Hisrt explains that the disciplines can borrow from each other; however, the fields can be separated from the disciplines. This is because they do not apply any single logical and unique expression form, and also in developing a unique structure of the experience. Many writers view tourism as a field, due to the above explanations. Gunn (1987) explains the major disciplines that significantly contribute toward the development of tourism. The disciplines are very diverse and include; anthropology, history, political science, human ecology, futurism, fashion and design, behavior, business, marketing and behavior. In tourism aspects, futurism is illustrated as applied history. It occurs when technicians, philosophers and scientists, combine in making insightful analysis of the societal trends. Gunn also analyzes the general approaches for generating tourism knowledge. The present tourism knowledge have been developed through several means. To begin with, the tourism practitioners understand certain issues due to tenacity. Secondly, this is an approach to authority. Thirdly, an appropriate way of understanding tourism knowledge is through the usage of intuition. The fourth perspective of getting tourism understanding is by application of science (1987:4). Apart from science, Gunn’s understanding however encompasses aspects of understanding tourisms issues that are not directly applicable. Tenacity is illustrated as firmly believed and adopted views. Authority is considered as the opinion of an important or influential individual. The intuition concept speaks or communicates for itself. None of these concepts can act as major contenders for justifying or proving the knowledge existence. Read More