ABSTRACT
According to the director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Arne Carlsen: “… to ensure that citizens have the necessary skills for life and work in the twenty-first century we must adopt a lifelong learning approach to adult literacy, adult basic education, continuing education and training, and human resource development”. Lifelong learning lays the foundation for sustainable social, economic and environmental development, all key precepts of twenty-first century tourism development. Lifelong learners ae disposed to acquire new knowledge, skills and attitudes in a wide range of contexts and are thus better equipped to adapt to changes in a diverse and volatile tourism. Lifelong learning therefore has a vital role to play in empowering citizens and effecting a transition to sustainable societies. The chapter sets the historical development the end of World War One, key concepts and underpinning principles of effective lifelong learning programmes worldwide. It provides the reader insight to global perspectives focusing on the main continents of Europe, Caribbean, the UK and Scotland, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
