| Summary: | Ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry worldwide.
Sustained development and success of the industry depends on the availability of
suitably trained manpower. Formal educational programmes to service the ecotourism
industry are, like the term ecotourism, a relatively new phenomenon and higher
education programmes to educate and train human resources for this important sector
are relatively rare. Although a number of higher education institutions in South Africa
are offering specialisation courses in ecotourism, these do not seem to be altogether
successful in meeting the needs of industry.
The aim of this study was to design an ecotourism curriculum for higher education
institutions in South Africa, with special reference to Technicon, which could also be
used as a basis for developing programmes in other institutions and countries.
A two-pronged approach was followed: a literature study as well as a survey. The
survey included focus group meetings, workshops, questionnaires and interviews. The
Delphi technique was used, consisting of 4 rounds of electronic questionnaires that
were sent to 80 selected panel members.
The study endeavoured to differentiate ecotourism from other forms of tourism as a
base on which to justify the development of formal educational programmes. Jobs and
career-paths within the ecotourism sector were identified, followed by an
identification of the knowledge, skills and attributes required for the career paths and
the levels within each career path. This resulted in a comprehensive database of the
desired outcomes for an ecotourism programme. This was consequently compared
with the curriculum of the existing 4-year B Tech: Ecotourism Management
programme offered by 3 Technicons in South Africa, which highlighted the
deficiencies in the existing programme. Additional educational themes were
identified, including the following: Tourism Anthropology and Cultural and Heritage
Tourism, as ecotourism is not only the interpretation of the natural environment but
also of all the cultural manifestations of the particular destination; English
Communication, as employees in the tourism industry need to be confident and expert
in the skills of speaking and writing; a foreign and an indigenous language;
Information Management; Leisure Appreciation; and IT applications focusing on the
ecotourism industry, such as e-commerce and on-line marketing. Subject themes with
too high a credit value in the existing programme were found to be Biology, Wildlife
Management and Interpretation.
On the basis of the above an ecotourism curriculum was developed, based on jobs and
career-paths identified by stakeholders in the ecotourism sector of the tourism
industry and designed by academics, knowledgeable in the field of both
tourism/ecotourism education and curriculum design. === Thesis (Ph.D. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
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