The current scientific and academic perspectives of tourism studies are interpreted to understand the viability of Tourismology as a suitable approach to define this area of studies, similarly in Portuguese academy. The paper also aims to study the actual tourism education organization and the institutional background in a national network level. The academic attitudes should be considered and discussed in seminar debates helping to consolidate this scientific study area and facilitate the

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... opment of innovative and efficient educational approaches in their academic community. The empirical research is based on secondary data analysis from the higher education institutions (HEI´s), mainly to understand their relative importance in this teaching level and the main approaches that correspond to a certain diversity of types of HEI´s, which have invested significantly in this field since the last thirty years. The methodology is based in a case study from Portugal tourism education. The premise is that Tourism Studies recognition needs a continuous and rigorous diagnostic at a national level, and a consequent formative policy and strategy, to respond effectively to the internationalization challenges. So, we consider the opportunity to develop two important projects: the National Observatory for Tourism Education (NOTE), as a mean to support the management and competitiveness of the tourism education network in the academic community in Portugal; the Research and Education Tourism Network for Lusophony (RETNL), essential to promote a bridge between Tourism academic communities and cooperation for the adequate recognition of the Tourism Studies core and their importance. The study results indicates that Tourismology is increasingly used in the educational community to define tourism as an autonomous field of studies and the Projects named NOTE and RETNL could be important to reinforce this development in Portugal and in the Lusophony.