The tourism education in Turkey and comparison with the member countries of European Union and the expectations of the sector from the tourism education

Tourism increases its importance throughout the world due to its economical, sociological and physicological effects. The perception of tourism and the expectations from tourism of the persons taking taking place in tourism activities. To satisfy peoples needs and wants is not only depend on the physical properties of the facilities but also to the quality of the service. Differences in service qualities provides competition advantage to the states and companies in a competitive environment. The most important condition providing qualified service is education. An effective and efficient tourism education will provide first the personnel who will be working in the sector to be more qualified and second the rise of qualified service of the states and companies. In this study, the tourism education in Turkey has been widely examined and a comparison of the education systems of the European Union countries ( France, UK, Spain, Italy) had been done. At the same time the thoughts and expectations of the people occupying manager positions in the 4-5 Star Hotels in Ankara about the current tourism education systems had been evaluated by questionnaries. In conclusion the number of the tourism education establishments had been found to be enough. However the sector required that the applied education should be increased and spesialization should be maintained and the sector should be involved in the preperation of the education programs. Key Words: Tourism Education, Turkey, European Union