Information technology and tourism education in Australia: an industry view of skills and qualities required in graduates

As technology increasingly becomes the driving engine for productivity improvement and business opportunities for enterprises in the 21st century, tourism and hospitality education and training must address these developments and aim at enhancing the ability of future managers to use a variety of IT tools and strategies to increase their organisation’s efficiency and responsiveness in the global market place. Following an ENTER 98 workshop on IT curriculum development for tourism and hospitality courses, the authors of this paper undertook to examine the Australian tourism industry’s needs and views in relation to information technology training and education. The findings suggest that operational IT skills take a greater priority over strategic management and marketing skills.