Undergraduate tourism management education in Shanghai: Are universities incorporating ICT?

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are playing an increasingly important role in the tourism development of Shanghai, which calls for an increasing supply of ICT-competent graduates of tourism management major. The purpose of this article was to examine ICT education offered by universities in Shanghai to their undergraduate tourism majors. The study was conducted through a comprehensive investigation of contemporary Shanghai's undergraduate tourism programs (N = 15) and a thorough content analysis of their curricula. This study contributes to the literature on tourism education by: (a) presenting the status quo of ICT education supplied by Shanghai's higher educational institutions to their undergraduate tourism management majors, (b) recognizing the lack of tourism-specific ICT-related courses among current Shanghai's undergraduate tourism management curricula, (c) supporting further investigation of perceptions of tourism professionals and graduates of tourism management major in respect to ICT competency. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.