Tourism Education in Austria and Switzerland : Past Problems and Future Challenges

Both Austria and Switzerland are small countries with a long tradition hosting tourists. Irrespective of high levels of economic development, the two countries also have high levels of tourism intensity when measured either in terms of number of tourists per native population or in terms of tourism receipts per population (e.g., per gross national product). Consequently, both countries also display a long tradition and evolution in their development of systems of tourism education and training albeit under differing market conditions and pressures. Both countries provide similar products like in the field of cultural tourism and alpine tourism. The tourism structure is also comparable. Both countries are dominated by family owned small and medium size businesses. However, their political structures are very different. This paper shows how each country under the three forces of labour market pressures and industry requirements, on the one hand and tourism education policy initiatives on the other has evolved two slightly different tourism education systems. Furthermore, an attempt was made to provide, based on the discussion in the first part of the paper, a more general explanation with respect to the response of tourism schooling/training supplies to varying conditions in tourism product markets, tourism employment and labour market systems, public choice decisions and general economic conditions. Finally, the paper discusses the paradigmatic shift (i.e., structural change) of tourism factor and product markets from the "Old to New Tourism" and discusses its implications for new types of tourism schooling and training in these two countries.