The twenty-first century is characterized by mobility, ever-increasing flow of information and cooperation among countries in the fields of economics, culture and education. Under these conditions pluriculturality and plurilingualism are attaining new meanings. Building cultural awareness is an extremely significant issue in higher education nowadays as prospective managers will have to contact representatives of different cultures. The study was conducted from May 2009 to April 2011 in the fourth largest tertiary education institution of Latvia providing also higher education in tourism business. The purpose of the study is to analyse the prospective managers‟ cultural awareness attained in the studies and its compliance with the requirements of the modern business culture. The sample consisted of 322 tourism students, 192 tourism employers and 144 graduates. The findings of the study show the role of intercultural competence to succeed in tourism business. Suggestions on how to promote prospective managers‟ cultural awareness in the studies are elaborated