Tourism education is undergoing drastic changes parallel to the change in tourism industry around the world towards digitalization, sustainability and cross-cultural integration. Nonetheless, although there are now many academic programmes worldwide, there are important discrepancies between confining pedagogy to the requirements of the job sector. This review describes the main challenges encountered by tourism education, as follows: mismatches between skills, lack of technology integration, lack of experiential learning organization, weaknesses in sustainability education, and failure to develop intercultural competence. The analysis goes beyond to the potential inherent in the methodologies of experimentation (specifically simulations, virtual reality and experiential fieldwork) and their combination with computational methodologies, such as AI-augmented analytics, digital twin architectures and data modelling, thus being a holistic problem-solving continuum that promises to enable better educational outcomes. The potential of AI-enabled learning systems and low-cost experiential modules as well as digital literacy, aimed at improving competency development and creating inclusive and scalable learning and training environments is highlighted in the current review. Curricula with a focus on sustainability and cross-cultural pedagogic models are also considered essential to the upcoming curricular reform. By incorporating experimental and computed methodologies into the scholarly method, tourism education education may more effectively prepare graduates to meet the dynamic and technologically evolving and culturally diverse demands of the tourist industry...