EXPLORING THE PERCEPTIONS OF EGYPTIAN HOTEL MANAGEMENT EDUCATORS TOWARD TEACHING ALCOHOL SERVICE

Most of the food and beverage syllabi taught in institutions offering hospitality 
education cover alcoholic beverages service. Besides teaching this theoretically, 
practical training on bar work may be provided to give students the needed practical 
experience preparing them to real work life. However, “alcohol in the class” has been 
argued as a controversial topic. Teaching alcohol in a country with a Muslim majority 
could be a sensitive issue. Whereas; Islam prohibits not only alcohol drinking, but 
also handling it. This presents a contentious issue for those educators responsible for 
delivering this course. This paper opted to explore how academics perceive teaching 
alcohol, a topic that was not studied before. 
An Arabic questionnaire was distributed to a number of educators in public and 
private universities and institutions delivering hospitality education. The survey 
covered some personal and background questions, in addition to the survey drinking 
history, attitudes toward teaching of alcohol service, self-perception of religiosity. 
Results indicated a difference between male and female educators’ attitudes toward 
teaching both alcohol service classes and laboratories. However, a correlation 
between religiosity and attitudes toward teaching is not evident. Furthermore, a 
significant association between career advice and perceptions of importance of 
service classes was found. Similarly, the association between career advice and 
perceptions of importance of service laboratories proved to be statistically significant