Education for tourism policy makers in developing countries

Scant attention has been given to the ways in which tourism policies are formulated in developing countries; and almost no attention to the training and educational needs of those policy-makers. The increasing involvement of developing countries in international tourism, and the particular need for government intervention in tourism in these countries, has created the need to examine the level and type of training provided for public-sector tourism managers. The author suggests that the level of education required by tourism policy makers should be differentiated from the usual interpretation of vocational training, and that this education is best derived from academically based rather than experience-based training.