ICT in tourism education

Consequences of using ICT and technology in tourism education

Educational technology is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the realm of education, with a particular focus on ICT in tourism education. Given demographic shifts and digital divides between students and professors, the use of educational technology in tourism education is becoming increasingly crucial. Because of the important economic importance of the tourist industry to both the private and governmental sectors, tourism education is frequently included as a subject in the formal education curriculum. The issue of tourism was intended to encourage both domestic and international tourist markets. This was because both pupils and their parents would become more conscious of tourism. Children may play an essential role in a family’s vacation decision-making process.

Given the worldwide character of the activity, tourism has accepted the use of technology as promoters of the tourist service, as well as for improving the efficiency of its administrative and labor processes. The globalizing systems, which have permitted the centralization of information from tourism sites in a single system, are a particularly noteworthy example of this use.

Today’s tourism teaching materials are centered on digital innovation, i.e., augmented reality (AR), big data (BD), and machine learning (ML), which are the tools that players in the tourist sector should employ. As a result, the teaching strategies used previously or currently differ significantly from what should be used in this industry, which is undoubtedly one of the tourist trends, not only because of technological advancements but also because of intelligent connectivity, which could lead to smart tourist destinations. Digital marketing, innovation, and product differentiation, tourist space adaption, mobile apps, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and collaborative economy should all be addressed by the technological tools used in tourism education.

To reach new tourism trends, tourism companies must nurture employees with innovative vision and efficient use of management tools. Tourism is characterized as an extraordinary phenomenon of economic relevance around the world; it presents a growth dynamic that has changed dramatically and that also distinguishes itself from previous trends. The aim is to combine augmented reality with tourism, with the continual growth of ICTs implying new and complex experiences for students, allowing them to employ developing educational technology in the future to give potentially unique experiences while attending to their requirements.

Another important aspect is the rapid creation of public policies that enable universities and their players to have enough bandwidth. These policies should enable society to utilize ICTs as well as provide training in their usage. This is intended to change the teacher’s perception of the use of educational technology through machine learning algorithms, which in turn motivates the student to be a more active participant in his learning and to strengthen the professional development of the tourist area’s students, ensuring that face-to-face classes are always up to date in terms of the use of new and emerging educational technologies.

The use of technology in tourism education, allows students to be more exposed to real-life circumstances today. While it is true that teaching strategies are not static, we must be aware of the constant changes in education, in the tourism industry, in technological generations, and emerging technologies will allow IES to adhere to constraining changes, which will allow gaps to be closed.

As staying connected is an important requirement not only for travelers but also for those working in the tourism industry, it is sought that service providers have access to it, and that not only tourism is transformed from service, but that everything that leads to evolution and contributes to the knowledge society is transformed, in this case, tourism. The use of technology in tourism education allows students to receive an experience education by mimicking real-life situations.