Tourism management and occupational crystallisation : a study in local authorities

Abstract

In recent years there has been a major growth in tourism occupations, and the development of specialist courses and organisations promoting tourism as a distinctive occupational field with its own particular qualifications, labour markets and career patterns. The research reported in this thesis is designed to examine the extent to which a distinctive occupation of tourism management may be emerging, using the concept of occupational crystallisation.

The study focuses primarily upon the function of tourism management within local authorities, which are argued to constitute a particularly appropriate site in which to study the processes of occupational crystallisation in tourism management. The role of three key groups in the process of occupational crystallisation is considered - occupational promoters (such as educational institutions and occupational associations), employers and employees. The study of occupational promoters is carried out through an examination of documentary evidence, supplemented with interviews with representatives of occupational associations in the field of tourism management. The study of employers and employees is carried out through a series of semi-structured interviews with tourism management employees and heads of function in nine English local authorities, supplemented with the analysis of data on recruitment and selection criteria derived from job advertisements for employment in local authority tourism work.

The research indicates that there is some evidence to suggest that a process of occupational crystallisation may be taking place within the area of tourism management, but that such crystallisation is at present only partial and that its precise nature remains unclear. Both facilitating and inhibiting factors appear to be at work, and further research is suggested which may help to clarify the precise nature of the labour markets, career structures and occupational identities which may be in the process of emerging in this area.

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