ABSTRACT
Tourism education has been given much consideration in the existing literature and suggested as a useful step towards preventing the problem of irresponsible tourism. However, it is crucial to look into tourism education from the perspectives of both formal and informal education. On one hand, formal education is the education provided in higher education institutions by way of professional courses or research conducted in the tourism domain. On the other hand, informal education through industry, business, and government initiatives aimed at informing and educating travellers is equally influential for stakeholders like tourists, locals, tour guides, travel agents, and local administrative staff involved in the tourism industry. While positive steps have been taken in academia to promote education concerning the negative ramifications of overtourism, another avenue for solving a collective action problem is to develop global rules and norms that promote sustainable tourism. Political aids and decisions become all the more important in this instance. Taking the example of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) that are voluntarily adhered to by some business schools worldwide, with the aim of improving education practices, such guidelines and principles could be enforced as required norms and standards. Although the aspect of (formal and informal) education is often overlooked in the study of tourism development and destination management, it has a tremendous influence on how tourism is developed (its rate, scale and form) and how a community will be able to respond to sustainable issues. Overall, this book suggests that tourism education has a positive impact on tourism destination performance in terms of nights spent, turnover, and added value, with a more prominent influence in the case of developing countries as it contributes to increase productivity and to maintain competitiveness. Tourism is a multi-disciplinary area of study that is deeply embedded in contemporary social and economic life. Tourism education can therefore contribute to understanding of (and dealing with) the broader societal challenges within the framework of the UN SDGs.
