TRENDS AND ISSUES IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY DEGREE EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA WILL THE BUBBLE BURST? ABSTRACT Dr Noreen Breakey Lecturer School of Tourism The University of Queensland 11 Salisbury Road Ipswich Qld 4305 Australia noreen.breakey@uq.edu.au Associate Professor Stephen J. Craig-Smith Deputy Head of School School of Tourism The University of Queensland 11 Salisbury Road Ipswich Qld 4305 Australia s.craigsmith@uq.edu.au The offering of hospitality, and subsequently tourism management, undergraduate degree programs has grown significantly throughout Australia since the first pioneer programs were launched over 30 years ago. This paper reviews the introduction and development of these Australian undergraduate degree programs, identifying the macro-level changes that have occurred in the hospitality and tourism program landscape since their inception. This review questions whether the current level of growth in program offerings is sustainable in the future. It may be that the combination of student demand and market supply forces will necessitate a consolidation of hospitality and tourism programs at the undergraduate level. Alternatively the increasing recognition of the importance of hospitality and tourism in the economic, business, government and education sectors, the predicted growth in inbound tourism, the current domestic labour shortage, as well as the increasing international student cohort may continue to drive the provision of numerous undergraduate offerings in hospitality and tourism. Keywords: tourism and hospitality education, undergraduate degree program, Australia. INTRODUCTION Overall, the growth of degree programs for the tourism and hospitality industry has followed a natural growth curve, with a very slow beginning in the 1970s, followed by accelerated growth in the 1980s, and massive growth throughout the 1990s and the present decade. While the initial programs were in hospitality it is worth noting that these undergraduate degrees often included tourism related content and the third program introduced in Australia had a combined focus of both hospitality and tourism. Specific tourism only degree programs were not introduced in Australia until the late 1980s. However the escalation of tourism program offerings was more immediate and this significant growth has continued throughout the last two decades. 1
This growth pattern is not limited to Australia as similar trends have been identified in other nations, such as the United Kingdom (Craig-Smith, 1998) and the United States of America (Boger, 2000), and more recently countries such as China (King, McKercher, & Waryszak, 2003) and Brazil (Knowles, Teixeria, & Egan, 2003). It is interesting to note that hospitality degree programs are considered to have grown and matured at a very rapid pace despite hospitality education being a relatively new academic pursuit (Williams, 2005a, 2005b). Within Australia, national research on hospitality and/or tourism degree education has been undertaken at different stages of the development process, including the research by Wells (1990; 1996), Hobson (1995), Craig-Smith (1998), Pearce (2005), Craig-Smith and Ruhanen (2005), and King and Craig-Smith (2005). In addition a number of research projects and discussions have focused on comparisons with other countries, such as the United Kingdom (King, 1990; Wise, 1978), New Zealand and the South Pacific (King, 1990, 1996), Hong Kong (King et al., 2003), and China (Craig-Smith & Ding, 2007). This paper aims to review the current situation regarding offerings of hospitality and tourism management undergraduate degree programs in Australia and relate this to the situation in the previous three decades, illustrating how the institutions and program offerings have developed over time. At the national level, the study of 20 years of evolution of all undergraduate degree programs in hospitality and tourism on offer throughout Australia was conducted by Craig- Smith (1998) in the late 1990s. That review identified a variety of different types of hospitality and/or tourism programs with a total of 43 offerings at 25 institutions. This current review, undertaken in 2007, outlines the significant changes that have occurred over the past decade and provides a picture of how hospitality and tourism degree programs have developed over the last 30 years. On the basis of the research this paper also aims to speculate on future trends for the next decade. METHODS This study of hospitality and tourism degree programs in Australia includes three main program types - hospitality specific programs, tourism specific programs, and combined hospitality & tourism programs. The review of all relevant undergraduate programs on offer for 2007 was sourced through the 2007 edition of the Good Universities Guide (Hobsons, 2006) and examination of educational institution web sites. Since all degree programs were examined, universities, TAFEs, and private providers, such as hotel schools, were included in the survey. To be classified as a hospitality program for the purpose of this research the program had to incorporate hospitality, hotel and/or catering in the title of its undergraduate degree or major. Similarly, to be classified as a tourism program for this study the program required the inclusion of either tourism or travel in the title of the degree or major; this also included such titles as ecotourism. To be classified as a hospitality & tourism program both terms had to be included in either the program title or major; the Bachelor of Business (Hospitality and Tourism Management) offered by Victoria University would clearly fall within this third category. One result of this classification process was to exclude degree level programs not specifically in hospitality or tourism but that include hospitality and/or tourism in a lower level award. One example of such a program would be the Bachelor of Management/Advance Diploma in Tourism Management at Deakin University. As this study focuses exclusively on undergraduate degree programs in hospitality and/or tourism, rather than certificates and diplomas, it was deemed by the authors that such program packages should not be included. 2
It is important to note that the same program may be offered at multiple campuses. For example the Australian Catholic University offers the same program in three states. For the purpose of this Australia wide survey, however, such a program is only counted once. It is fully recognised therefore that the number of program offerings is higher than the actual number of programs. Owing to the number and variation of hospitality, tourism, and hospitality & tourism degree programs offered over the past three decades a snap shot approach is used to summarise the main trends. This analysis examines the program situation for each decade, identifying the number and type of hospitality and/or tourism programs and the institutions involved for each 10 year period: 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007. As this review provides a picture of the program offering in a particular year it is possible that this includes two programs for one institution where one is a new program and a second is a program in the process of being phased out. Although this might slightly distort the overall picture the authors felt it important to include all programs on offer at each point in time. Whilst this study examines the three main types of degree programs focused on the hospitality and tourism industry it is recognised that each of the types can be further broken down. For example, a previous paper focusing specifically on hospitality programs classified the programs on a spectrum from most to least hospitality focused (Breakey & Craig-Smith, 2007a). For this study the Hospitality Focused programs, such as the Bachelor of Hospitality offered by James Cook University, are combined with the Business and Hospitality focused programs, such as the Bachelor of Business (Hotel Management) at Griffith University, as both of these programs incorporate the key hospitality terms into the title of the degree. RESULTS As mentioned above this review considered the three main program types - hospitality specific programs, tourism specific programs, and combined hospitality & tourism programs. The number of programs in each type on offer over the past 30 years is provided in Figure 1 below. 50 45 40 35 Hospitality Programs Tourism Programs Hospitality & Tourism Programs Number 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1977 1987 1997 2007 Year Figure 1 3
Hospitality, Tourism, and Hospitality & Tourism Undergraduate Degree Programs in Australia (1977, 1987, 1997, 2007) Illustrating the overall growth in undergraduate degree level education in hospitality and tourism throughout Australia, the total number of programs offered and the related number of institutions are presented in Figure 2. 100 90 80 70 Institutions Programs Number 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1977 1987 1997 2007 Year Figure 2 Hospitality, Tourism, and Hospitality & Tourism Degree Programs and Institutions in Australia (1977, 1987, 1997, 2007) The paper now outlines the situation in the selected year in each decade from the 1970s onwards and examines the changes to the programs on offer and the institutions involved during each intervening decade. This analysis highlights the dramatic growth in the number of offerings, and the different trends for each of the three program types. In addition the geographic distribution of the programs offered throughout Australia is discussed. The analysis of the institutions considers the number and type involved in the provision of hospitality and tourism degree education throughout Australia. PIONEER DAYS HOSPITALITY, TOURISM, AND HOSPITALITY & TOURISM PROGRAMS IN 1977 It is now over 30 years since the first degree programs for the hospitality and tourism industry were introduced in Australia. The two pioneer programs were hospitality focused. They both started in 1974, one by the Footscray Institute in Melbourne (now Victoria University) and one by the Queensland Agricultural College outside Brisbane (now The University of Queensland). Both programs evolved from earlier sub degree programs in hospitality. In the 1970s and 1980s there was a binary system of higher education in Australia with Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) focusing on vocationally applied degree programs and universities focusing on more theoretically focused degree programs. 4
In 1977 therefore, there were only two degree offerings and both were in the field of hospitality and not tourism. This is not surprising, as hospitality programs were the first to be offered in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America as well. At this time both programs were provided by CAEs and there were no university offerings. SLOW TAKE OFF YEARS HOSPITALITY, TOURISM, AND HOSPITALITY & TOURISM PROGRAMS IN 1987 From slow beginnings, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw limited expansion of program offerings and institutions involved. In 1987 there were no additional hospitality degrees over those offered one decade earlier but the Footscray Institute offered the first tourism program in 1978, Charles Sturt University offered a second tourism program in 1984, and Queensland Agricultural College a third tourism program in 1987. In the combined hospitality and tourism field the Footscray Institute offered a dual focused program in 1978. This was the first such dual focused program in the country. In 1987 therefore, the number of programs had increased to six which included the original two hospitality programs present in 1977 together with three tourism focused programs and one with a dual focus in hospitality and tourism. Although the number of programs had increased three fold it was starting form a very low number (just two) and the number of institutions involved increased even more slowly. Of the six programs on offer in 1987, the Footscray Institute was responsible for three of them and the Queensland Agricultural College for two; only one other institution joined the hospitality and tourism education club in the intervening decade and that was Charles Sturt University. All three types of focused degree were now on offer however and one university had joined the two pioneer CAEs. ACCELERATING EXPANSION YEARS HOSPITALITY, TOURISM, AND HOSPITALITY & TOURISM PROGRAMS IN 1997 The decade 1988 to 1997 witnessed an astronomical expansion in the number of programs on offer and the number of institutions involved. In the field of hospitality RMIT offered a new program in 1988, Bond University in 1989, the University of New South Wales, Griffith University, the then Northern Territory University, and the University of Western Sydney in 1990. Edith Cowan University offered a hospitality degree in 1991, La Trobe University in 1993, the Australian International Hotel School in 1995, and Southern Cross University in 1997. The two hospitality programs of 1987 had developed to 12 at the close of 1997. This expansion in hospitality degrees was overtaken by an even faster acceleration in tourism focused degrees. James Cook University offered a tourism program in 1988, Southern Cross University, the University of Ballarat, the University of Canberra, the University of Newcastle, and the University of Technology, Sydney all offered tourism programs in 1989, Edith Cowan University in 1992, Central Queensland University, RMIT University, and the University of Western Sydney in 1993, Griffith University and the University of Queensland further tourism programs in 1994, Monash University, Victoria University (two further programs) in 1996 and Flinders University, Murdoch University, the Sunshine Coast University, Notre Dame University and Curtin University in 1997. In addition, ecotourism focused degrees were introduced by Charles Sturt University and the University of Western Sydney in 1995 and by Flinders University and Griffith University in 1996. From the three tourism focused programs available in 1987 this had grown to a staggering 28 one decade later. The one area of program which did not expand significantly during this time was the dual focus hospitality and tourism degree. The original program number expanded only by the addition of 5
one program at the University of South Australia in 1993 and one program at La Trobe University in 1995, thereby bringing the total offerings to three by 1997. The growth of programs from a total of six in 1987 to a staggering 43 in 1997 requires some explanation. The Australian tourism industry was expanding rapidly in the 1980s and was experiencing increased visitation from South East Asia and in particular from Japan. A more demanding and sophisticated tourist market was demanding higher standards of service which in turn demanded a better educated and more efficient workforce trained to international standards. This resulted in demand for the introduction of specific tourism management degree programs. This, however, was only part of the reason for such rapid expansion. The concept of a binary system of higher education with universities focusing on traditional disciplines supported by a strong research focus and Colleges of Advanced Education concentrating on more vocationally and practically based disciplines under pinned by a consultancy focus was being increasingly questioned by educationalists, industry and government. In the late 1980s the Dawkins Report (Dawkins, 1988) reflected Commonwealth Tertiary Education thinking, and considered issues including student access to higher education, cost implications for the Government, and the development of a broad based skilled workforce. Dawkins was driven by many factors. The sheer number of institutions was considered excessive and the government was determined that the number of institutions should be reduced by mergers and amalgamations. Driven by Labor s macro and micro-economic reforms Dawkins saw the need to increase the skills level of students so that they could create the clever country and work the new technological age to Australia s advantage. The outcome of the Dawkins Report was the abolition of the binary system and its replacement with a unified national system. A series of amalgamations reduced over 70 institutions to approximately half that number thereby reducing administration costs and potential program duplication. While the success of the reduced administration costs can be disputed the unified national system brought about a greater uniformity to the tertiary education sector with 39 universities Australia wide. This major higher education restructure, the greatest in last 30 years, profoundly affected the provision of hospitality and tourism education. Prior to the mergers, the majority of these programs had been offered predominantly by the college sector, but after the mergers hospitality and tourism became accepted university areas of study. The newly created universities and the enlarged earlier existing universities embarked on expansion where each institution looked to develop its program offerings and student intake. Tourism programs, if not hospitality programs, were relatively easy and inexpensive to introduce. Staff with relevant tourism expertise could be transferred from departments of business, environmental studies, geography, sociology and the like and the cost of mounting tourism programs was relatively inexpensive. Research science labs and teaching farms and hospitals are not required to deliver tourism programs and at a period when universities were encouraged to expand rapidly tourism was one logical path to follow. This does not of course account for the expansion in hospitality programs but these did not expand at the same rate and very often expensive kitchen and restaurant facilities were hired from local hotels or TAFE facilities (Robinson, Breakey, & Craig-Smith, submitted). WILL THE BUBBLE BURST? HOSPITALITY, TOURISM, AND HOSPITALITY & TOURISM PROGRAMS IN 2007 Given the rapid proliferation in programs between 1988 and 1997 many program directors at the time wondered if the expansion years would rapidly come to an end. Judging from this survey this has not been the case; in fact rapid expansion has continued up to the present, along with a number of changes in program emphasis and in institutions involved. 6
Programs focused on hospitality have continued to expand from a total of 12 programs in 1997 to 27 programs in 2007. Clearly this was the area in which programs had a slower rate of growth in the previous decade. In spite of the costs involved in providing hospitality facilities there has been a marked increase in new offerings. Clearer perceived career pathways within the industry, the expansion of international hotel chains, especially in South East Asia, and very strong overseas student demand have all led to this continued increase in hospitality program provision. This growth has been due to, both an increase in the number of institutions offering hospitality, and the beginning of institutions offering more than one hospitality degree program. Since 1997 eight universities have added a hospitality program to their offerings and a further seven nonuniversity institutions are now providing degrees in hospitality. In addition, a total of four institutions now offer two degree programs specifically in hospitality. In 1997 no provider offered more than one hospitality focused program. Since the 1997 review only three providers have moved out of hospitality education. These include RMIT University and Bond University who interestingly were the third and fourth institutions to begin offering hospitality back in the late 1980s. In addition Charles Darwin University has moved from offering a hospitality specific program to a tourism specific program. During the same decade the number of tourism focused degree programs has increased from 28 in 1997 to 48 in 2007. This is still a rapid increase but not quite at the same rate as the hospitality focused degree program expansion. Also similar to the hospitality growth the tourism degree increase has been due to a combination of more institutions entering the tourism education marketplace and multiple tourism offerings by individual institutions. Over the decade five universities and three non-university providers began offering tourism specific programs. Only RMIT University moved out of tourism degree education. In addition continued development in the specialist areas of tourism, such as environmental and heritage tourism, has helped the growth. Program specialisation and differentiation is to be expected in a crowded market place. This specialisation has resulted in two, three, and even four tourism programs being offered by a single institution. At this time there are 16 providers offering two or more tourism specific programs. Interestingly, the growth in dual focused hospitality and tourism degree programs has seen an increase from three in 1997 to 13 in 2007. Research indicates that many Generation Y s are choosing to study more generic business programs over the traditional sciences (Charp, 2003). This growth may partly be accounted for by interest in degree programs with a number of potential career outlets and dual focused programs are seen as leading into both hospitality and tourism, and general business as well. This growth in combined hospitality & tourism programs has significantly impacted the total number of program offerings as a number of providers offer two or three, or even more degree programs, with for example one in hospitality, another in tourism, and a third in hospitality & tourism. Providers currently offering all three of the program types include Edith Cowan University, La Trobe University, University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, and Victoria University. Despite this, four institutions only offer the combined hospitality & tourism program, highlighting current student demand for this type of degree. Today a total of 38 institutions offer a complement of 88 hospitality and tourism degree programs, 29 of these are universities, seven are private providers and two are TAFE institutions (Figure 3). The most significant change over the survey time has been the movement of private providers and TAFE institutions into this area of higher education. 7
35 30 25 University Providers Private Providers TAFE Providers Number 20 15 10 5 0 1997 2007 Year Figure 3 Hospitality and Tourism Undergraduate Degree Programs Providers in Australia As previously mentioned, before the abolition of the binary system of universities and Colleges of Advanced Education in 1990 the majority of hospitality programs were offered by Colleges of Advanced Education. Following the introduction of the new system universities were the main provider of hospitality degrees but over recent years private Hotel Schools and some Vocational Colleges have joined the ranks of providers. Although it was mainly the universities offering hospitality and tourism degrees in the late 1990s the past decade has seen a significant shift with competition increasing from the private sector and also coming from the TAFE institutions. Interestingly, while the first degree offered by a private hotel school was located in Canberra (in 1995), the subsequent trend in the last decade has been the clustering of private institutions in the Sydney and Adelaide metropolitan areas, with three currently located in each. The 29 universities currently offering hospitality and/or tourism degree programs represents three quarters of all Australian universities. The remaining quarter is comprised of the two universities that moved into, and subsequently out of, this area and eight universities that have never been involved with undergraduate degrees in hospitality and/or tourism. Interestingly these eight universities include five of the Go8. The limited offering of hospitality and tourism by the Go8 universities may be due to their focus on the traditional disciplines rather than on newer, more contemporary areas of study. A further trend has been for institutions to become more flexible with program offerings allowing for an exit point at diploma level before final completion of the degree, and for more meaningful and flexible articulation arrangements between institutions and levels of program. 8
Such arrangements are not limited to Australia with the trend already noted in other countries, such as Hong Kong (Lo, 2006). The distribution of hospitality and/or tourism degree programs throughout Australia is shown in Table 1. This illustrates the offering in all states and territories, although the three types of undergraduate degrees are not all offered in each location and the distribution is not evenly spread. In fact nearly two thirds of all the programs offered are in the three eastern states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. This is further reinforced by the inclusion of the federal category institution: the Australian Catholic University. While a number of providers deliver programs from multiple campuses, which may be in different states, these providers have a main or traditional campus. In contrast the Australian Catholic University has campuses in many states of Australia. Relevant for this discussion, their hospitality degree program is offered at three of their campuses, in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Table 1 Hospitality and Tourism Degree Programs in Australia, By Program Type and Location (2007) Hospitality Programs Tourism Programs Hospitality & Tourism Programs Total New South Wales 6 11 4 21 Queensland 6 12 2 20 Victoria 4 10 3 17 South Australia Western Australia 5 4 2 11 2 6 2 10 Tasmania 1 3 0 4 Australian Capital Territory Northern Territory 2 1 0 3 0 1 0 1 Federal 1 0 0 1 Total 27 48 13 88 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Even in the 30 years since the first hospitality and tourism degree programs began in Australia there have been significant changes in the higher education sector federal policy, institution types, agendas, student fees, and number, as well as the size, importance and needs of the industry, and the characteristics and goals of the students (Breakey & Craig-Smith, 2007a, 2007b). Overall the dramatic increase in the number of hospitality management degree programs has been in response to students seeking to qualify for a growing number of job opportunities 9
within the hospitality industry (Williams, 2005b p.26). This has lead to a highly competitive offering of hospitality programs at Australian universities (King et al., 2003). Similarly, the rapid growth in the size and significance of the tourism industry has ensured continued demand for tourism based degrees. In a review of the development of hospitality and tourism programs in Australia, Hobson (1995) attributed the dramatic growth during the late 1980s and early 1990s to the increase in international visitor arrivals, the economy of the nation, and the changes in education policy at the federal level. Since then the growth in hospitality and tourism programs has been even more dramatic with 88 degree programs now offered by 38 institutions nationally. The question for the future is whether the growth will continue, or even if the current level of program offerings is sustainable. It may be that even the existing offerings have spread the student cohort across so many programs that student numbers in many programs are too small to be sustained over the coming decade. This may mean that the life-cycle of hospitality and tourism programs will reach the consolidation stage with some of the less viable programs disappearing from the degree education landscape. While the current general trend in Australia is reducing domestic university applicants many institutions are offering tourism and hospitality programs overseas and/or targeting full fee paying international students. As the international students tend to select the large capital cities, and attractive tourism destinations in coastal or mountain locations the geographic location of the institutions is significant and there is not an even playing field. This is obviously particularly relevant for students from the booming tourism industries in the highly populated nations, such as China and India. In the future this situation is expected to be heightened by increasing competition from private providers and the TAFE sector which are now able to offer full degree programs in their own right. Many of these already have a track record at the sub-degree level, particularly in hospitality, and the facilities to provide the practical elements of the program. In addition they are already offering components of the degree programs linked to universities. While hospitality and tourism program consolidation may occur in certain regions there may be room for growth in offerings in particular states/territories, especially for the private sector and TAFE institutions which currently have a very limited representation outside Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide. Decisions on program development should be informed by current research. This provides the opportunity for further research into hospitality and tourism education trends; particularly in terms of linkages between providers; trends in the provider mix; changing entry and exit points and requirements; the geographic spread of offerings; student needs and level of demand, both domestically and internationally; and industry take-up; as well as wider higher education trends. REFERENCES Boger, C. A. (2000). The Future of the Hospitality Curriculum: A Criteria for Evaluating General or Specific Curriculum Tracks. Frontiers in Southeast CHRIE Hospitality and Tourism Research, 3(2), 63-65. Breakey, N. M., & Craig-Smith, S. J. (2007a). Hospitality Degree Programs in Australia: A Continuing Evolution. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management, 14(2), 102-118. 10
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