The Evaluation of Distance Learning in Tourism Education in the Pandemic Process

The most important feature that distinguishes the tourism sector from many sectors is that it has a labor-intensive structure. Therefore, the knowledge and skills of those working in this sector are important for the competitiveness of businesses. In this direction, tourism education curricula are developed on a practical basis. During the pandemic, the functioning of the tourism industry has come to a complete halt, so education has been moved to digital platforms. In this process, many application-based courses were suspended and these courses were started to be carried out on digital platforms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the views of students who receive tourism education in the pandemic process towards distance learning. The action research technique, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. Action research is a method actively used by educators who take the role of researchers to systematically and scientifically obtain information and develop applications in various fields of education. The sample of the study consists of 24 students studying tourism in the 2020-2021 academic years. The research data were collected using a semi-structured interview technique. As a result of the research, while the students expressed positive opinions about distance learning, they stated that they lacked the application aspect, which is a necessity of tourism education. In addition, with the statements put forward, it is concluded that students improve themselves by participating in seminars and trainings with distance learning methods in many different countries in the pandemic process. Among the problems experienced, students stated that there is a lack of infrastructure.

Supply Chain View of Tourism

Tourism being observed as a supply chain, this article describe its practices under a conceptual research framework with a special reference to education tourism. The author projects the education tourism as a continuum where both service supply chains of education and tourism are integrated. The research implication is directed towards the cross-sectoral objectives of communities involving the tourists, students and destination communities. The original thoughts and value propositions in this research are portrayed as a supply chain framework. Unlike goods supply chain management, the service supply chain of education tourism grows complex due to the coexistence of the overlapping service objectives for education and tourism. Education tourism deals with students and tourists frequently interchanging their roles; leveraging the services of the vendors and outsourced partners. The increasing complexity of education tourism demands smart technology applications to manage it as an integrated total supply chain.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

In the article, the authors present an overview of the historical line of development of the human resource management (HRM) system in the Republic of Kazakhstan, define the conceptual framework of modern sustainable development of HR management in tourism, and form focus area in its development. In the course of the research, a survey has been conducted among the entities of the tourism industry of Kazakhstan, which was attended by representatives of the business environment of the near and far abroad countries. The results of the survey among specialists in the tourism industry have formed the basis of large-scale research. The strengths and weaknesses of HRM in tourism of the Republic of Kazakhstan have been identified; the analysis of modern trends in HRM of the country reflected in regulatory and legislative documents, state demands, the business and social environment have been carried out. The authors propose a three-stage model of mastering the HR competencies in the tourism education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Key Noun + Noun Collocations in the Language of Tourism: A Corpus-Based Study of English and Serbian

In this paper, we investigate the main characteristics underlying noun + noun collocations in the English and Serbian language of tourism. Their morpho-syntactic, semantic and communicative features are contrasted and compared in the two languages. Firstly, we compiled two comparable corpora in English and Serbian from the tourism websites of Great Britain and Serbia. Based on their normalized frequencies per 10,000 words, key noun + noun collocations were extracted, using TermoStat Web 3.0 and AntConc. The results showed certain similarities in terms of the prevailing topics in the two corpora, based on the analysis of key noun + noun collocations. However, we found major differences in the two languages in terms of their morpho-syntactic features, communicative focus and the relationship of the collocates. The results of the study have implications for English for Tourism education, tourism discourse studies, language typology and lexicography.

CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: THE CASE OF OVERSEAS EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

This article highlights an increasingly popular form of experiential learning, namely overseas exchange programs. Experiential learning is regarded as a valuable way to link up theoretical knowledge and practical skills in hospitality and tourism education. Although some studies have addressed the importance of experiential learning, the factors influencing students’ choice of overseas exchange programs, and the challenges and benefits of students’ experiential learning are still unclear, especially on the overseas exchange programs. The purpose of this study is to reveal the whole picture of overseas exchange programs by utilizing experiential learning cycle theory, and further understand students’ perception of overseas experiential learning. By employing quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with students who have participated in the overseas exchange programs and content analysis of program information, this study analyzes the differences of factors considered by males and females in choosing overseas exchange programs, and displays the four-stage learning process of experiential learning in overseas exchange programs and identifies two themes of challenges (living challenges and learning challenges) and five themes of benefits (cognitive development, behavioural change, multiple skill development, social bonding development, academic competitiveness & employability enhancement) for experiential learning for students majoring in Hospitality and Tourism. The study enriches our understandings of the experiential learning cycle theory and provides insights to educators in the design of future overseas exchange programs.

Economic Dividends of the Abraham Accords

The UAE and Israel had no direct relations before August 2020, as UAE had not recognized Israel as a state. However, the UAE was keen on building diplomatic relations with all countries in the recent past and is progressively becoming more liberal and tolerant. The UAE signed the historic Abraham Accord with Israel in September 2020. The Abraham Accord is an avenue of peace. It supports the efforts for prosperity and advancement as it paves the way for deepening economic, knowledge and cultural ties between the countries. There are opportunities to expand cooperation, engagement and knowledge sharing in various sectors such as agriculture, energy, technology, tourism, education, health care and services, trade and homeland security, climate issues, water, food security and smart mobility. Since September 2020, several transactions have been signed between Israeli and Emirati firms in different fields, valued at tens of millions of dollars. On the anniversary of the agreements, the volume of trade between Israel and the Emirates amounted to more than $ 100 million per month. The Abraham Accord has paved the way, is gradually improving the relationships in the region, and will slowly but surely lead to better peace and economic prosperity of the region.