TravelDailyNews: How would you characterize the level of tourism studies in US?

Larry Yu: Tourism studies is a long established academic field in the U.S. It attracts research interests from scholars in multidisciplinary fields, such as business, economics, geography, anthropology and many others. Each academic discipline is building its own body of knowledge in tourism and tourism studies has been recognized and accepted in many institutions of higher learning in the U.S. by offering programs at undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs as well as various professional programs. High schools in major metropolitan area and two-year community colleges throughout the U.S. also offer curriculum in tourism. Therefore, tourism studies can be found in many levels of academic studies and in many different academic disciplines.

TDN: Do you feel that there are essential differences among the educational systems in US, Europe and Asia and what are they?

L. Y.: There are no major differences in these three world regions because of regular exchanges and contacts between tourism programs and readily-available program information on the Internet. However, difference may be found in the emphasis placed on practical skills and management theories. Tourism programs in the U.S. tend to focus on management theories. Another aspect of difference is the fine specialization in the U.S. For example, Event management and Meeting Management have already defined as two separate areas. But, in Asia, most programs use MICE to include these areas.

TDN: US are the powerhouse of the travel and tourism industry today. How is this affecting the structure of your academic programs? How important is specialization and practice for the future graduates?

L. Y.: The development of the tourism industry directly influences academic programs in student enrollment, placement and curriculum refinement. For instance, since the 9.11 terrorist attacks, interests in risk/crisis management has grown. We need to introduce this topic into our curriculum. Another fast-changing area is information communication technology in tourism, we need to review and update our curriculum regularly. In our department, we offer a series of one-credit short courses each semester and these short courses are used to introduce the most current, just-in-time type of topics to our students. I think specialization and practice are important for our graduates. Specialization in asset management, information system management or sales can enable students to find suitable employment. In the U.S., employers focus on work experience and we require out students to take internship or part-time job to gain practical experience.

TDN: What is your opinion for the e-learning method and what are the GWU’s initiatives towards this direction?

L. Y.: I am a strong believer in e-learning and an active instructor in distance learning program. E-learning provides an educational opportunity to working professionals to study tourism management, who otherwise won’t be able to attend GWU. We launched our Accelerated Master of Tourism Administration (AMTA) through distance learning format in 1999. This e-learning AMTA program is the clone version of our on-campus Master of Tourism Administration (MTA) program. Now the AMTA program is a well developed e-learning program through Blackboard platform with interactive learning experience. Most students are from different parts of the U.S. and some international students. Our AMTA program was once ranked in the top 25 graduate e-learning programs in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report. I have been teaching in this program since its inception.

TDN: What is the percentage of the domestic and international students in your institute? From which countries are the international students?

L. Y.: We have 65% domestic students, and 35% international students. Students are from more than 30 countries: such as Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Panama, Honduras, Peru, and Brazil.

TDN: Is there a strong competition between public and private institutes? Which sector can offer the best knowledge and give the right guidance for the tourism industry and why?

L. Y.: Tourism education programs are now offered by many universities and two-year colleges in the U.S. Each program serves a target market that sustains the growth of the program. GW is a private university. We do not feel too much competition from other public or private programs since our academic programs have been growing steadily in the past 10 years. Both public and private institutes educate competent graduates for the industry.

TDN: What is the level of cooperation between GW University and the local and peripheral tourism industry? What kind of qualifications are in the top list of the tourism industry?

L. Y.: GWU has a close relationship with the local tourism organizations and companies. Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is the home to many international tourism organizations: government tourism agencies, international hotel brands, airlines, destination marketing organization, tour companies, event and sport management firms. These companies hire our students as interns and employees. Industry professionals serve as mentors to our students and speak to our classes as guest speakers. Our graduate students often conduct research for the tourism industry as part of their course requirement. Our faculty are also actively engaged in conducting research and consulting services to the local tourism industry.

Qualifications the tourism industry looks for from our graduates include:

• People-oriented (enjoys working with people)
• Industry experience
• Analytical skills
• Problem solving skills
• Team-player

TDN: Is there any lack of cohesion between the given level of knowledge by universities and the real situation in the industry?

L. Y.: This is not a major concern in our department since we monitor industry trends closely and regularly seek advice from industry executives about their education needs. We add, refine, and delete curriculum contents to reflect current industry trends and management practice. Some of our courses are also taught by part-time faculty who are industry professionals. They incorporate their management experience in classroom teaching and keep the students abreast to current industry development. In addition, most of our students have part-time jobs in the industry. So they can apply the knowledge acquired from each class to their work. We focus on integration between theory and practice in tourism management education.