‘Hollow from the start’? Professional associations and the professionalisation of tourism

Abstract

Occupations as diverse as nursing, journalism and marketing have strengthened their claim to professional status and current research suggests that professional associations played a critical part in the process of professionalisation. Following a review of three conceptual approaches to understanding contemporary professionalisation strategies, this paper examines the case of British tourism. It traces the historical development and assesses the current practice of the two main professional associations in the sector. The analysis shows that the ‘professionalisation project’ has largely failed and argues that contemporary frameworks for understanding professionalisation strategies are somewhat deficient when applied to tourism.

Keywords:

• professional associations
• professionalisation
• tourism