Sixth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

In the modern world, as crises are become more common, e.g. pandemic, earthquake, tsunami, civil strife/war, wildfires, etc., their effect on education becomes more pronounced. Institutions of higher education need to develop strategies and policies to address these increasingly common events. The COVID-19 pandemic is an especially immediate and profound example that can be studied in real time to analyze the impact and potential management strategies of major crises, in general. The harmful impact of COVID-19 has been deeply experienced all over the world. Similarly, the pandemic has caused significant damage to higher education since most campuses closed and moved to online learning instead of continuing with in-person classes. The closure had a major impact on students’ learning performance especially in those majors that are highly dependent on active learning. Hospitality higher education programs are among those directly affected by the pandemic. This experience put the future of hospitality programs at risk both for educators and the higher education system, in general. The goal of this study is to explore the obstacles that current hospitality programs are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and identify how the programs should evolve in a way that can effectively address specific demands post-crisis.