Synopsis Tourism industry is passing through a transitional phase from old traditional style pilgrimage tourism to latest on line booking system. Unlike traditional tourists, new tourists are more sophisticated, more informed needing more comforts and quality personalized services. They don’t travel on trial and error basis from destination to destination. They need very attractive package of tour product at very optimal price. To meet all these requirements of new tourism, the tourism industry requires trained human resource, so tourism education emerges as an essential. The tourism professionals require sound tourism knowledge for join tourism business. With such objective several universities and institutes like Kurukshetra University and IITTM etc. started tourism education in early ninetees. Overtime it expanded to over 30 organizations of India. So far tourism education has passed through several phases. It is worth to over view the past, present and future challenges of tourism education.