Analysis of the English Language Needs of the Saudi Tourism Workforce: A First Step into Designing ESP Teaching Materials

Communication skills are extremely important for the tourism industry; they form an integral part of most tourism activities. Using English, as the international lingua franca, is an essential part of these skills, especially for international tourism. Saudi Vision 2030 places a high importance on international tourism as a driving force for economic growth. Since the inception of the Saudi Vision 2030, the tourism industry in Saudi Arabia, along with its workforce, has been growing substantially. Therefore, designing English language teaching materials for the tourism industry workforce in Saudi Arabia is a necessity. The current study firstly aimed to analyze the English language communicative needs of the Saudi tourism workforce, and then propose an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) model for teaching English based on their needs. A nation-wide survey was designed and distributed to sixty-two male and fifteen female workers serving in the Saudi tourism industry to determine their English language communicative needs. Listening and speaking were found to be highly important to their profession, in particular understanding instructions and requirements and providing details about touristic attractions. Reading and vocabulary were found more important than writing and grammatical accuracy. The study concludes with a proposal of an ESP teaching model to meet the English language communicative needs of the tourism workforce in Saudi Arabia.