Tourism Education from a Relationship Management Perspective

This paper adopts a relationship management perspective to examine tourism education in a Caribbean country. It aims to examine the extent to which relationship management can be infused into tourism education. A questionnaire was administered to the employers in hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies on the island to get an idea of the skillls they require and their expectations of students' competence upon graduation. Interviews were conducted with other stakeholders in the industry and with education providers to get their views on the level of collaboration that exists between the industry and the educational institution. The results indicated that the employers required a number of industry-specific skills, as well as other employability skills. The employers expressed concerns that students are not adequately prepared for the workplace upon graduation, and that there is a need for collaboration between the industry and the institution to enhance the quality of graduates. The stakeholders suggested that the institution needs to understand the dynamic nature of the industry and to develop a relevant curriculum to cater for their needs. They also suggested that the institution should liaise with the stakeholders to get a greater understanding of the industry's needs so that the curriculum developed would be relevant.