ABSTRACT
So far, this book has been concerned with the development of the study of tourism from the past to the present. More specifically, in Chapter 1 I highlighted the rapid emergence of tourism as a distinct area of academic endeavour over the last two to three decades, manifested most visibly in the global growth in the provision of higher education programmes in the subject but also in the equally rapid expansion of the tourism knowledge base. The chapter went on to question the extent to which this remarkable evolution of the study of tourism can be considered a success. In particular, it considered a number of challenges, widely accepted by the tourism academic community, which the subject continues to face. Collectively, these are best summarized as the continuing failure to achieve the wider academic recognition and credibility that the subject undoubtedly deserves. In the final part of the chapter, I looked at why, within a higher education context, tourism is worthy of academic attention, implicitly suggesting that its study has far more to offer than just preparing students for a potential career in travel and tourism. In other words, although the provision of tourism education has long been justified by the perceived need to meet the employment requirements of a burgeoning sector, this is not, and indeed should not (particularly at the higher education level), be the only reason for studying tourism.
