Tourism Economics: Life after Death?

Abstract

Paul Omerod's recent book, The Death of Economics, provides the background to this paper. As Omerod's book laments the state of mainstream economics it seems an appropriate time to subject economics for tourism degrees to similar critical scrutiny. There has been a rapid growth in institutions offering degrees in tourism, from none in 1985 to 40 and rising by 1995, and economics has generally been part of the package on offer to students. This paper starts by outlining three serious challenges to economics both as a discipline and as educational knowledge for tourism students. It then examines how the educational package of economics is framed, and from this concludes that economics courses may arise more from accident (or inertia) than design, or that the design may not be appropriate for current needs. It therefore suggests that there is considerable scope for the re-framing of introductory economics for tourism students. In the light of the criticisms of economics expressed in the first section, a model curriculum for tourism economics is proposed, and ways in which such a model might be promoted and developed are explored.