Abstract:

Fostering a society’s tolerance towards diversity is becoming a key competence due to today´s massive migration, increasing ethnocentrism and culturally diverse communities, according to numerous experts in the field of multiculturalism and intercultural communication. Undoubtedly, accepting cultural and religious diversity is essential, especially in the case of future experts in tourism since the services in whichever sectors, i.e., hospitality, gastronomy or transport, are based on the interaction of people from at least two cultures. The present paper deals with cultural and religious diversity and its impact on the attitudes of tourism undergraduates in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The questionnaire survey conducted in 2020 aimed to identify differences in perceiving the phenomena among Czech and Slovak students.

The findings of the comparative analysis revealed both similarities and differences between the undergraduates’ attitudes. While the former might be the result of the long-lasting relationship of the two nations and their co-existence within the borders of Czechoslovakia, the latter can be the consequence of different political and social processes that took place after the separation of the given countries in 1993.

Keywords:

Higher education, cultural and religious diversity, multiculturalism, attitudes, perceptions, tourism undergraduates, Czech Republic, Slovakia.