Towards an emotion-focused, discomfort-embracing transformative tourism education

Abstract This article applies recent developments in transformative learning theory in considering a transformation of classroom-based tourism education. It expands on previous work in the arena of critical tourism education, in centring emotion—and discomfort in particular—in re-thinking what and how we teach in the classroom. As scholars in adult education who teach and have worked in the tourism industry, we argue for the potential transformative contribution of transformative learning theory and seek to expand tourism scholars', practitioners', and educators’ understanding of the theory as it relates to pedagogical practice.