ABSTRACT
The perception that both Hospitality and Tourism Management rightly belonged to vocational education arose because, in terms of education, training in both areas was carried out in direct association with industry. Aligning Hospitality and Tourism Management with vocational education thereby foregrounded the practical skills requirements of management rather than academic scholarship and research (Scarpato, 2002; Lashley, 2004). Given this context, this perception was understandable, as hospitality training had been routinely provided by hotels and developed into management programmes run in-house by industry. But a more academic perspective on Hospitality (and Tourism) began to emerge in the early 1980s, underlining the conceptual and not merely skills-based knowledge implied by the term ‘hospitality’ (Airey & Tribe, 2000: 282). Individual schools of hospitality and tourism continued to emerge, scholarship and research were supported and bachelors and master degree programmes served to establish Tourism and Hospitality Management as bona fide disciplinary approaches.
