Evolution and Analysis of Tourism Education Programs in Ibero-America 2015–2019–2021. The Case of Sustainability, Hospitality and Food & Beverage Programs

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the total offer of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in tourism in Latin America and Spain. The aim is to understand the changes, as well as the new trends in higher education in tourism in both regions, given that these studies have traditionally had an AngloSaxon perspective. The analysis focuses on the themes of Sustainability; Hospitality and Food & Beverage, although other themes have also been identified and categorised during the process. This work is supported by the collaborative work of 54 national expert reviewers who have participated to make it possible to inventory and classify tourism programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Latin America and Spain. The results achieved have made it possible to create Platea Global, a map and inventory of the total offer of tourism education programmes by countries, states, and cities, analysing their evolution. It has been detected that the tourism postgraduate offer that has increased the most by 85.2% in the period 2019–2021, has been the subject of Sustainability, above subjects such as Hospitality and Food & Beverage. The results could help academic institutions and those responsible for governance in tourism destinations to adapt their training offer to current trends, facilitating the incorporation of their graduates and providing the most current and necessary knowledge for the tourism sector at an international level.