Educating Tourism Students for Work in a Multicultural Environment

Abstract

This study was conducted in 2009 in the fourth-largest tertiary education institution of Latvia, which provides higher education in tourism, among other programs. The purpose of the research was to study the tourism employers' and students' needs to evaluate the present curriculum and to offer opportunities for its development. One hundred ninety-two tourism employers and 262 students were questioned. The article presents the results of the study concerning issues of intercultural education. Based on the ideas gained from the analysis of theories and empirical data, suggestions on how to facilitate the development of tourism students' intercultural competence were elaborated.

Keywords:

• tourism education
• culture
• intercultural competence
• multicultural environment