Advantages of educational tourism
Discuss About The Educational Benefits Of Travel Experiences.
Tourism is one of the most common activities done by the people of the modern world to experience and explore the things and activities that are never done by them (Murphy 2013). Educational tourism is one of the major facets of the arena of tourism where the main purpose of the travelling is to gather educational knowledge and learn the things that are not known (Reisinger 2013). Though educational tourism is one of the major aspects of tourism, the tourism and marketer department has always neglected the former. The total concept of educational tourism has gained popularity in recent years with more number of institutions and even the local government bodies recognizing the need to implement educational tours to promote the interest in students. The students when taken to an educational tour, gain a lot of knowledge and skills for the same marketing the significance of the tourism sector one of the most important in recent times. There are a number of aspects that the concept of educational tourism has which has been stated in the next paragraphs that promotes the advantages of educational tourism in the lives of the students. The main aim of the essay is to focus on the benefits that the concept of educational tourism has and to counter the strong arguments against it.
One of the major arguments that can be implied to the concept of educational tourism should be promoted to improve the level of education of the country. The students of one country when goes for the educational trips in some other countries and even within their own country, the level of knowledge of the student increases to a different level (Stone and Petrick 2013). The current and present scenarios of the world help the students identify better with the situation and make their educational and formal knowledge more valuable accompanied by the overall education of the country and its people. The impact of educational tours can be seen in the minds of the students when they get a better understanding of the whole situation and get the situation according to the reality. When the students learn about the Seven Wonders of the World and their significance, which has made them so, they need to feel it practically to get a feel about the significance. The educational tours play a major role in doing so as with the educational tours, the students get to feel the peculiarity of the monument and associate their learnings with it. The Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and it is famous for its beauty and majesty (Clayton and Price 2013). The symbol of Love, Taj Mahal can be seen in different pictures and the impact of acid rain is seen in the whole scenario. Nevertheless, when the students get to experience the whole situation along with the implications of acid rain in the whole matter, they get a present example of the scenario proving the fact that educational tour impact the knowledge of the person. Another subject that needs and advocates the educational trips is Geography and the types of vegetation and fauna associated to a particular place. When a student of Geography visits a place or explores a place for the educational benefits provided, that student is sure to get a lot of knowledge, as without any practical experience, the learning and knowledge of a place holds no value. Even students who belong to the science, engineering or medical background need the influence of the educational trips to get the access to knowledge that the students require. The practical knowledge and testings help the students to gain a better knowledge about the subject and the things that the student requires to have a better understanding of the issue.
Enhancement of the cultural dimension
Another aspect of educational tourism is that it helps to enhance the cultural dimension of a country by the concept of global mixing and inter cultural mingling. The whole aspect of educational tourism should be promoted to promote the cultures of the country and make the students of a particular country possess a better knowledge about the country in which they are travelling, be it their native land or a foreign country (Smith 2015). The students of a particular country while on an educational trip to some other country gets the culture of the country and also about the people living in that country along with their native habits and lifestyle. The concept of global mixing involves the inter mingling of different global cultures and concepts which help them to establish a connection with the people from around the world. Also, the concept of inter cultural mingling finds its way into educational trips as adaptation and knowledge of different cultures is the only way of cultural globalization that can make the whole world and their people come under one roof and share the knowledge with each other (Pieterse 2015). As for an example, if a student of Malaysia visits Ankor Vat in Indonesia for an educational trip, that student can learn a lot not only about the Indonesian culture and habitats but also about the native culture of the kings and even about Hinduism, the religion on which the temple is based (Banerjee 2012). The whole tour of the student can be a demonstrative factor of the student in terms of their religion and religious learning. The visit to Rome by any student also makes sure to get a knowledge about the Christian culture and the land of Pope that can make sure to get ample knowledge about the culture and native land of the visit.
Third argument that can be said in favour to the concept of tours and visits for educational purpose is to make the country economically growing. It is being said that educational tourism should be promoted to improve the economic background of the country as with more and more tourist activities in the country, it is imperative to say that the economic background of the country gets a positive influence (Leigh and Blakely 2016). Educational trips are sometimes promoted and conducted by the government of a particular country that help the steady relations between the two governments which also promote the economic growth of a particular country. The student trips made by the educational institutions make sure to implement the concepts of visiting different places of interest of another country that promotes the income and earning of the place making the country more financially strong. The case of Malaysia can be considered in this matter where due to the positive influence of the educational trips and tourism, the growth rate of the country has remained stable at 4% and has not reduced much due to the continuous growth of the student tourism. With more and more students being encouraged to visit a particular country for educational purposes, it is likely that the student can feel interested in studying in that particular country in future, which again promotes the educational institution, set up of a particular country making the economy of the country develop at a rapid rate. The economic development of a particular country make sure to improve the infrastructure of the country making scope for the tourists and even the students to get better benefits from the country in future. The growth of Malaysia on an economic level is seen on a stupendous level as more and more educational trips are being conducted in the place which in turn favours the whole situation and make the place economically strong.
Economic growth through educational tourism
One of the major counter arguments that can be placed against the concept of educational tourism is the promotion of the level of education of the country. There are no theoretical evidence of the fact that educational trips influence the level of education of a country. Though it has being said that practical evidence influence the mind and knowledge of the student, there is no practical result of such a case. The theoretical facts related to studies and education can be seen in the books, which are sometimes enough for a person to get an idea of the same. The beauty of the Seven Wonders of the World can be seen through the eyes of the person but that is accountable to only the aesthetic pleasure that the sight gives. In terms of education and other problems, this view and sight does not have any significant presence that is accountable to the gain of knowledge. In terms of knowledge related to the subject of Geography, medical or engineering, the concept of educational trips hold importance as most of the institutions make use of the concept to get the students the appropriate amount of exposure to the fields in which they are studying. The practical exposure of the students in terms of educational trips do not help much in giving the students the needed knowledge for the same. It is being said that the concept of educational tourism holds no special significance as more and more students and their institutions are conducting the same either for the sake of fun and adventure or for earning a good level of money for the profit of the institution which again proves that educational trips are not an important part for the increase of the knowledge of the students.
Another counter argument that can be placed is against the concept of educational tourism and trips for the growth of economic stability and doing economic development of the country. However, the concept of economic development is related to the fact that the country in which the educational trip is being conducted can gain a lot of monetary benefit from the educational tour but the country which is conducting the trip and sponsored by the government and the private institutions, the concept of economic growth holds no value. The whole concept of economic development is just merely a mirage in this concept as the educational institution is facing a major loss in the whole process as with time the whole concept of financial gain has been reduced due to the expense. The concept of economic development due to the educational trips holds no importance as the number of educational trips conducted per year is merely half of the normal trips done for a particular time. The accounting also incurred by the students and the institutions are not that high as every educational trip is associated with the concept of reduced price and more discounts given to the students and the community for the better application of the education. The educational trips hold no pivotal significance in the whole matter as the amount gained by a particular country for the number of educational trips conducted for a particular year is mere in terms of the other income and earning methods that has been implied by the country for the financial security of the country.
In conclusion, it can be said the educational trips are one of the most important part of the students learning and the knowledge gained by the student. The educational tourism and trips play a significant role in the learning process as the student gets to learn a huge amount of knowledge for the educational trips conducted. Moreover, a number of factors related to the country like the cultural development and the economic development are also related to the overall educational tourism that a particular institution holds for a group or section of students interested for the trip. There are a number of counter arguments for the same as there are viewpoints that make sure that educational tourism has no or significantly less role to play in the overall benefit of the student and even the country. The role of the said tourism is therefore a very controversial topic as on one hand the students do get benefited in some way by the educational tourism sector and on the other hand, the benefit of the educational tourism is fractionally less when considered from a different point of view.
References
Banerjee, S., 2012. Make me a man!: masculinity, Hinduism, and nationalism in India. SUNY Press.
Clayton, P.A. and Price, M., 2013. The seven wonders of the ancient world. Routledge.
Leigh, N.G. and Blakely, E.J., 2016. Planning local economic development: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Murphy, P.E., 2013. Tourism: A community approach (RLE Tourism). Routledge.
Pieterse, J.N., 2015. Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Rowman & Littlefield.
Reisinger, Y. ed., 2013. Transformational tourism: Tourist perspectives. CABI.
Smith, M.K., 2015. Issues in cultural tourism studies. Routledge.
Stone, M.J. and Petrick, J.F., 2013. The educational benefits of travel experiences: A literature review. Journal of Travel Research, 52(6), pp.731-744.
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