Greece Looking to Include More Fields of Study in Tourism Education

Upgrading tourism education in Greece is key in order for the country to develop alternative forms of tourism, according to Greek Deputy Tourism Minister Manos Konsolas.

Speaking during the Next is Now tourism forum in Athens, Konsolas stressed that new a curriculum with new fields of study must be introduced to Greece’s tourism education system.

“These new specialites must be created to match not only the future but also the country’s development model for tourism in the coming years,” he said.

During his speech the minister referred specifically to shortcomings in Greece’s tourism education system in regards to specific forms of tourism that the country is striving to develop.

“How can we develop health tourism in Greece in the coming years, when there is no school of management for health tourism units? When there are no specialties related to the provision of services in health tourism?” the deputy minister wondered.

Konsolas then touched on Greece’s efforts to boost its conference tourism prospects, and pointed out that the tourism schools in the country do not even have a “congress & event management executive” specialty.

The deputy minister also mentioned that the tourism schools should add specialties that will support the development of cruise tourism, such as the field of study relating to luggage management at home ports.

“Basically, I am referring to demanding and very well-paid job specialties that we want to create, through a new model of tourism education that will produce specialized executives for all forms of thematic tourism,” Konsolas said, adding that the cooperation between the public and private sectors is vital in order to substantialy upgrade tourism education and link it to the labor market.

The Next is Now forum was organized by enikonomia.gr and held under the auspices of the Tourism Ministry, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and the Region of Attica.