This study evaluates the role and impact of ChatGPT in tourism education. According to the study results, the areas of use of ChatGPT in tourism education are preparing course content, curriculum and exams, language learning, and obtaining theoretical knowledge. ChatGPT is suitable for academicians and students within the scope of tourism education. The factors affecting the applicability of ChatGPT in tourism education are the digital skills and technological predispositions of academics and students, ethical and security concerns, and the structural characteristics of tourism education. The positive effects of ChatGPT on tourism students are that it improves their research skills and efficiency, saves time, increases creativity, and provides access to information quickly. The negative effects of ChatGPT on tourism students are the possibility of making them lazy, accessing wrong information, reducing their thinking skills, and making them dependent on technology.
TopIntroduction
The emergence of ChatGPT towards the end of 2022 marked a significant development in the realm of artificial intelligence-driven chat tools (Grassini, 2023). Despite its relatively recent introduction, ChatGPT swiftly garnered attention across various sectors, captivating individuals with its innovative capabilities (Demir & Demir, 2023a). Businesses and individuals swiftly embraced ChatGPT, recognizing its potential to decipher complex queries and provide valuable insights (Rathore, 2023). This surge in interest has prompted extensive research endeavors to assess the efficacy of ChatGPT across diverse scientific domains (Demir & Demir, 2023b). Education stands out as one of the focal points for investigating the impact of ChatGPT, with studies delving into its effects on educators and students (Dalgıç et al., 2024). This exploration of ChatGPT's role in education has unveiled a spectrum of outcomes, spanning from beneficial to detrimental trends, thus fueling heightened interest and research efforts in this domain (Dempere et al., 2023).
The impact of ChatGPT on students across various educational levels has been a subject of discussion. ChatGPT offers students many benefits, albeit the extent of these advantages may vary. Nonetheless, there are common perspectives through which these gains can be evaluated. ChatGPT primarily facilitates students' career development by fostering personal growth (Ajlouni et al., 2023; Forman et al., 2023). By providing personalized support, ChatGPT aids students in honing their skills and capabilities, empowering them to navigate their career trajectories more effectively. Moreover, ChatGPT streamlines the process of accessing diverse information sources, enhancing students' learning experiences (Huallpa, 2023; Sharma & Yadav, 2022). This accessibility to a wealth of information empowers students to delve deeper into their studies and broaden their understanding of various subjects. Additionally, ChatGPT serves as a valuable tool for language learning, facilitating students' comprehension and communication skills across different languages (Imran & Almusharraf, 2023). With ChatGPT's language translation capabilities, students can engage with texts and research materials in languages beyond their proficiency, thus expanding their linguistic competence. ChatGPT enables students to approach content creation in novel ways, fostering creativity and innovation (Gill et al., 2024). By providing students with instant access to additional information and ideas, ChatGPT stimulates their innovative thinking, encouraging them to adopt a more creative outlook in their academic endeavors (Kiryakova & Angelova, 2023).
ChatGPT also has negative effects on students. Students' critical and analytical skills are thought to be negatively affected by using ChatGPT (Demir & Demir, 2023c). Since students can make ChatGPT do everything, they do not express and question their thoughts. In this case, students use ChatGPT's information and thoughts as their own. The fact that ChatGPT's access date to information is 2021 is also a subject of criticism (Sallam, 2023). ChatGPT is unaware of the developments and information, especially after 2021. This makes it difficult for students to access up-to-date information. The increase in plagiarism with ChatGPT is also one of the negative issues (Malinka et al., 2023). Having students do their homework on ChatGPT increases the similarity rates, and ethical discussions are experienced.