OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF CROSS-CULTURAL EDUCATION IN TOURISM

Akin G.

ANAIS BRASILEIROS DE ESTUDOS TURISTICOS-ABET, cilt.15, 2025 (ESCI)

Özet

Technological advances and increased intercontinental mobility have made the world smaller. Today, it is common to encounter people from different cultures in a country or even a town, whether as visitors, students, or workers. Consequently, microscale education systems have shifted from homogeneous to more heterogeneous environments that reflect diverse cultures and associated values. More specifically, student exchange programmes, such as Erasmus, are considered the main drivers of strengthening intercultural communication in education. Simultaneously, it is crucial to emphasize the role of intercultural education in tourism. In this study, individual interviews were conducted with tourism students residing in Turkey who were pursuing tourism studies. This study aims to identify the opportunities and challenges that international students encounter during their education in Turkey, particularly from academic, social, and cultural perspectives. A qualitative research plan was developed using content analysis, and the opportunities and challenges encountered by the students were presented through themes based on the interviews, focusing on their experiences during the pandemic. In line with this study's findings, the opportunities and challenges of intercultural education in tourism were comprehensively addressed. The students' plans were examined within the framework of push-and-pull theory, and recommendations for the future were presented to universities.