Peer-to-peer capacity-building in tourism: values and experiences of field-based education

Taking tourism as a metaphor for the complex and unequal relationship between the Majority World and the more affluent tourist-generating countries, this paper reports research into ways in which educational tourism can facilitate mutually beneficial exchanges between ‘hosts and guests’. The empirical work is based on data collected as part of an innovative field-based education project on international tourism development and management with field-based activities conducted in The Gambia. The paper aimed to show that if the exchange, both culturally and pragmatically, was to benefit not only the visiting students but also the host country, then values, cross-cultural interaction, innovation and knowledge exchange would have to play key roles to ensure that this peer-to-peer capacity-building opportunity though educational tourism would contribute to sustainable (tourism) development in the chosen locality.