Prospects and Practices in Educational Tourism Essay

Prospects and Practices in Educational Tourism - Essay Example The researcher states that Singapore receives thousands of visitors on educational tours from a wide variety of nations and cultures. It has several places of attractions for the educational tourists. Singapore has meaningful and beneficial tie-ups with countries such as Abu Dhabi and China which demonstrates that the future of education tourism in Singapore is promising. While the majority of the educational visitors are teenagers, there is ample scope for Singapore to attract adults and businessmen. Hence, proper segmentation and promotion has to be looked into. However, as in every trade and sector, corruption, misuse and competition has entered the educational tourism market also. Both education and tourism have grown as industries in the recent decades and this is the reason that both these sectors are important from the social as well as the economic perspective. Education and tourism promote international exchange and learning and these are the two sectors on which would rest the success, growth and economic prosperity of nations. Changes in both these industries have taken place which has seen a convergence of these two industries. Education facilitates mobility and learning and this has become an important part of the tourist experience. However, despite both these industries growing independently, very little theoretical writing is available on the convergence – educational tourism. Educational tourism is â€Å"tourist activity undertaken by those who are undertaking an overnight vacation and those who are undertaking an excursion for whom education and learning is a primary or secondary part of their trip†. Educational tourism is a novel method of acquiring knowledge which involves traveling to a foreign location and enrolling short term courses in a specified field or subject. In the process, the individual also learns about the history and culture of the country, including its lifestyle and architecture.