Band 8, Heft 1 - Themenheft: Ausbildung im Tourismus: Heftmoderator: Roman Eggers

Consequences of the growing maturity of the hospitality industry are increasing levels of competition, complexity and change in many hospitality markets. This leads to new managerial challenges for hospitality companies and the future managerial skills needed by managers in the industry reflect these changes. Hence, the question is being raised whether there is an increasing necessity of more advanced management skills and if the traditional educational profiles and courses in hospitality education in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have to be realigned. In consequence, there might be the need for a paradigm shift concerning the perception of the overall value of an academic education in hospitality in German speaking countries. As a result this paper aims to depict the necessity of a joint effort of academia and industry to support the value and the demand for an advanced academic hospitality education.

To design flexible academic education, the European Universities’ charter on lifelong learning (European University Association 2008) proclaims more permeability of the educational system by opening the universities for non-traditional students, especially for those with a vocational background (Esser 2014, p. 3). Addressing this target group results in a challenge for educational institutions in general and tourism education in particular. They have to develop methods of recognition to accredit competences and skills acquired during professional employment. The Distance and Independent Studies Center (DISC) of the University of Kaiserslautern for instance already gives those with professional experience the option to participate in a postgraduate study program without giving proof of a first academic degree. Is this model transferable and applicable to touristic programs? This article contributes to this discussion.

The main differences of the touristic education system are to be found in the professional education when comparing Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Germany and Austria, apprenticeship certificates in the hospitality industry have declined disproportionately compared to the total of all sectors. In Switzerland, the proportion was kept constant thanks to an increase of around 1000 apprenticeship certificates. Drivers are the dynamics for job revisions (redesign of education plans) and job reforms (new jobs). Diverse educational programs enjoy high priority also on the tertiary level in Switzerland. The proportion of graduates of a tertiary education stands at 14 %, slightly higher than in the analogue countries (10 %). Permeable, well established professional education offers the key for a proper inclusion of industry needs and dynamics from market developments.

Adventure tourism is one of the major niches in tourism (Cater 2006). It has established it self within the last decade and is said to be the fastest growing outdoor tourism market sector (Williams, Soutar 2009; Buckley 2007). Adventure tourism brings together travel, sport and outdoor recreation (Beedie, Hudson 2003). In Germany, adventure tourism research and education is lagging behind. Other countries, mostly English speaking, offer a wide range of university degrees in adventure sports and adventure tourism. International conferences (e. g. Adventure Conference) and Journals (e. g. the up coming Journal of Adventure Tourism) focus on adventure tourism related research topics. This article aims to emphasise the importance of Adventure Tourism in Germany. It analyzes the status quo in adventure research and opportunities to study adventure related programs. The authors plan to establish a network of researchers to promote adventure tourism in Germany.

The importance of online teaching is increasing as digital technologies are expanding rapidly and it also has expanded into the realm of tourism and hospitality. However, online learning and teaching formats, the activities to facilitate learning outcomes as well as the learning outcomes themselves, and the assessment of these learning outcomes are in their core approach comparable with the traditional setting. First comes the development of the curriculum and second the appropriate technology to deliver the curriculum — never the other way around. This will ensure the constructive alignment of learning outcomes, activities and assessments. Equally important to planning is the understanding of the technology used to deliver a class, course, module or program. Here, digital literacy can be a challenge to both students and instructors. This paper recognizes the necessary inherent theoretical pluralism when addressing online learning. The theoretical underpinnings of this paper draw from the constructivist learning model as applied to online learning, as well as transformative, experiential and authentic learning. Based on theoretical foundations, the paper will first examine why online teaching in tourism and hospitality continually becomes more important, to support this assertion. Secondly, applications to curriculum and appropriate technologies — using the Teaching Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) five value sets framework — will be explained. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are drawn for educators and practitioners.

Destination Management Organizations recently have started to use Information Communication Technologies for educational purposes: to train and educate travel agents, travel consultants, and tour operators in order for them to sell a specific destination and its attractions in a better way. The paper addresses the formal and informal learning perspectives and, firstly aims to map current eLearning courses about tourism destinations according to formal or informal learning experiences they offer. Secondly, perceptions on the learning experience of travel agents who attended an eLearning course offered by a Swiss regional destination are presented. Considering the produced courseware, such courses may be considered as formal learning, because contents are strictly designed and structured, and usually a final test/certificate is foreseen. However, when it comes to the demand side – i.e. the actual learning experience of travel agents – various informal learning practices and features are identified, such as spontaneity of the decision to take the course or location and timing of course attendance. The findings of this study contribute to an enhanced understanding of formal and informal learning aspects in the process of knowledge construction about tourism destinations for travel and tourism professionals.

The dynamic and expanding world of tourism is becoming increasingly complex. This tendency is leading to growing challenges for the educational programs of the future. To meet these challenges, the most prevalent approach is to focus primarily on identifying the “right” content of a program’s coursework rather than on the most suitable didactics. Presumably highly efficient “ex-cathedra teaching” of expert knowledge is the result. At the same time, lecturers are confronted with growing deficits in the knowledge levels of recent student generations, whose awareness of the world has been substantially formed by communication via social media rather than the reading of books. Moreover, neurobiological findings disprove the effectiveness of non-interactive forms of lectures and instead demonstrate that interactive forms of problem-orientated learning better meet the needs of learning as a self-referential process. In response to the prevalent practice of “ex-cathedra teaching”, there is a tendency among students to memorize academic material (which they then retain only for the short-term), rather than learning to understand the material in terms of the complex interactions that it entails. This paper strongly advocates paying more attention to problem- and solution-orientated methods of instruction, rather than focusing on what the “right” factual contents are. An important outcome of such a reorientation would be sustainable study programs that encourage critical, creative and innovative thinking based on constructivist didactics.

Souvenirs play a key role in the tourism industry on both, the demand and the supply side. This article identifies the main needs and motives of guests regarding the purchase of souvenirs with focus on sustainably produced products. Within the scope of an applied research project in collaboration with five practice partners, a qualitative and quantitative demand analysis was conducted. The results form the basis for the subsequent development and production of innovative, sustainable souvenirs. The demand analysis provides new insights regarding the purchasing behaviour of different guest segments in Switzerland as well as their needs and their willingness to pay for sustainable souvenirs. Hence, practical approaches for tourism destinations concerning the optimization of their souvenir portfolio and its commercialization are derived.

Since decades have been efforts to develop a barrier-free tourism for people with disabilities. However, the results are often regarded as unsatisfactory by the providers and the guests. It should be noted that barrier-free and accessible tourism is widely seen as a taboo, a hidden and a limited market segment that is often experienced as demanding too much especially in the view of medium-sized companies due to the heterogeneity of guest target groups and the self-interests by disabled person’s associations and tourism organizations. Therefore an enhanced cooperation between the stakeholders is recommended in order to cope better with the many strategic and operational challenges.