ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assess the relationship between tourism education and tourism destination development, as well as to emphasise the importance of tourism education for the competitiveness and sustainability of tourism destinations. In order to assess the relationship between tourism education and tourism destination performance, this study took into account four essential indicators: the number of graduates in the ‘Personal services’ field of education (in which tourism education is a core component), the number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments, the turnover in the accommodation industry, and, respectively, the added value in the industry. Data were extracted from the Eurostat database. Further on, considering change indices, data were analysed based on simple linear regression and correlation coefficients. Eventually, results were discussed within a tourism destination sustainability framework. Overall, results showed that tourism education positively impacts tourism destination performance in terms of nights spent, turnover and added value, with a more prominent influence in the case of developing countries. In the context of tourism education and destination sustainability, tourism education has a major influence on driving societal change towards sustainability. The relationship between tourism destination development and its workforce quantity and/or quality is a largely uncharted area within tourism research. This chapter fills in a consistent knowledge gap regarding this relationship, in the context tourism destination performance and sustainability.
