Tourism Geography Education in Mediterranean Basin Countries

Abstract

Tourism is an important global activity and is also one of the most active factors that play a transformative and productive role in places and destinations. The main purpose of this research is to determine the tourism geography course contents available in universities in Mediterranean countries (Türkiye, Spain, Italy and Portugal) and to make a comparative analysis with the countries in the Mediterranean basin. In this study, qualitative and quantitative methods were used together. Content analysis was used as the qualitative method, and correspondence analysis was used as the quantitative method. A total of 152 data were obtained from 93 sections from Turkey, 27 from Italy, 26 from Spain and 6 from Portugal. Data for the research were obtained from the websites of universities in Türkiye, Spain, Italy and Portugal. When the research findings are evaluated, it is seen that the subjects of Türkiye's tourism regions and Anatolian civilizations are at the top of the list of course contents for tourism geography in Turkey. Sustainable tourism and cultural tourism issues are seen to be important in the content of tourism geography courses at Italian universities. When it comes to the content of tourism geography courses at Spanish universities, it is seen that Spanish tourism/geography and world geography topics are at the top. Finally, the content of tourism geography courses at Portuguese universities appears to be physical geography and destination types.