Ecotourism in Southern Taiwan: The Call for Adequate Training

When the subject of teaching ecotourism comes up, two responses seem to independently arise: First, this is not a major topic in tourism departments like catering or transportation; Second, specialized knowledge of nature is beyond the scope of tourism English departments. Regardless of which of the two major concerns come up, or other less common ones, a lack of concern or understanding for this rapidly growing industry niche comes to the surface. In a brief survey of public and private colleges and universities here in Taiwan, in which there are Tourism departments existing, ecotourism classes never exceed 1 two-hour elective class. This lack of emphasis ignores the recent government data that shows that many foreign tourists are not here to shop but to experience Taiwan's natural beauty and scenery. Surveys and studies indicate that ecotourists usually come from higher-income brackets than many other tourist categories and they are highly interested in learning about and being educated in the places and things that they see. In fact, they almost always gather information in choosing where they will go. This strongly requires that the services be well-planned and implemented and that the guides for their tours must be knowledgeable and well-trained as well. Communication with this type of tourist is a must. English, therefore, is an essential to the successful tour package for many groups or individuals, yet the ecotourism classes here in Taiwan are rarely in English or other foreign language. Those that are cover history of the subject, ethical concerns, but again, rarely deal with the practical language of destinations and subjects of interest here in Taiwan or abroad. This renders the course far less useful to actual language use. The purpose of this paper is to identify the need for awareness of this field of tourism as the world changes and the tourism industry adapts to meet those changes, along with how essential English ability, and therefore English education, is to the tour personnel in Taiwan. Ecotourism as a specific ESP course in Taiwan is needed for tourism departments to keep up with the changing patterns of tourism that are already occurring.

並列關鍵字

Ecotourism ； Tourism English ； Tourism English education

國際替代計量

全文下載

主題瀏覽