The British host: just how welcoming are we?

Abstract

Despite the rise in international education, there is a lack of literature on the domestic student perspective. This paper redresses the balance somewhat and reports findings from a qualitative study of British student attitudes to the presence in large numbers of international students on their tourism management programme. Analysis revealed home students to be empathetic, flexible and eager to learn about new cultures. This mindset was attributed by participants to their desire to work in the international tourism industry and their understanding that tourist satisfaction increases in line with host receptivity. A simultaneous trend of segregation in the home and international student body was revealed: this was interpreted as an inevitable desire to gravitate towards similarity in a multicultural setting.

Researching whole people and whole lives

“…But she points out that incoming Erasmus students have more to gain from interactions than do locals (unless the latter are linguistically motivated), and that the expected outcomes are frequently not realised -a frequent finding (e.g. most recently for the UK in Brown and Richards, 2012). While virtual networks with family and friends at home may meet some Researching whole people and whole lives practical and psychological needs, incoming Erasmus students, in order to counter isolation, also quickly establish local networks.…”