The paper, using Taiwan as a case study, examines the policy trend toward the employment of tourism as an economic development
strategy and its implications for the development of
tourism human resources (HR). Research findings reveal that tourism, from being almost synonymous with political and educational activities in the 50s, has been endowed with a more realistic economic objective, aiming to stimulate labour productivity and upturn economic
transition. A substantial tourism industry has since been established based on strong policy endorsement and increasing domestic leisure demand, albeit with pressing tourism personnel requirements and slow action in the instituting of HR development for tourism in the 90s. Results indicate that efforts have been generally limited in cultivating personnel for the creation of a regulated market, and superficial in nature, situated in a narrow aim of meeting international service standards. A more appropriate approach, catering to the upward labour mobility and entrepreneurial opportunities for prospective tourism workers, requires adequate attention to help Taiwan achieve the economic dynamics and multi-faceted effects of tourism.