Tourism English programmes: do they mirror the reality and the contents of the tourism industry?

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the English language contents in the tourism educational setting to understand if they address the different aspects of the tourism industry. The study was conducted with information collected from Portuguese public higher education institutions - both universities and polytechnic colleges - which was analysed according to the main economic activities identified at the core of the tourism activity. With this insight of the Portuguese educational setting, the research highlights the importance of the role of English language subjects for the tourism industry.