ABSTRACT
As tourism is an important sector of the service economy and is a creator of jobs, there is a need to examine tourism education in relation to careers and employment. This is not to detract from the value of tourism as an area of academic study in its own right, but the vocational element of tourism education necessitates that it is considered in the wider labour market context. It is not sufficient to examine tourism education without considering the progression of individuals that undertake tourism studies with a possible view to entering employment and developing their careers in the industry. Furthermore, given the amount of employment opportunities available in the various tourism sectors and the ability of tourism development to generate jobs, tourism education is often the starting point in the training and development of human capital to undertake these occupations. Therefore, tourism education is closely related to employment and careers in the industry from both an individual perspective in terms of their personal career development and opportunities, and an organisational perspective in terms of the supply of labour available for the industry.
