Sustainable Tourism: Rethinking the future (edX)

Learn more about different social science perspectives to tourism. Implement these perspectives to a tourism case , and share your insights in a professional team environment including practitioners, visionaries, and/or tourism entrepreneurs joining this course.

Learn and work on promising and new tourism developments, including Digital Nomadism, Urban Overtourism, Accessible Tourism, or Ecotourism.

In this course, you'll explore these and other inspiring developments currently observed in the tourism industry. You'll make use of interdisciplinary insights to rethink the status quo of tourism. Alternatives can only become real if we allow for an open space for continuous discussion and the generation of new tourism narratives.

Not only do we provide space to connect ideas into new narratives for change, we will also challenge you to remain engaged after completion of the course.

This course is part of the Tourism in Transition: Exploring a Sustainable Future Professional Certificate.

What you'll learn

- How to implement insights from various tourism disciplines to current developments in the tourism industry

- Become familiar with, and share, inspiring tourism developments across the world

- Recognize and co-create future narratives as a tool to compose new business cases and/or project proposals in your professional context

- Ways to become part of ongoing dialogues on developments for the future of tourism

Prerequisites

This course is especially valuable if you have a background in either the social sciences or tourism/hospitality studies, but everyone is welcome to join (you might want to consider taking TOUR01x first tolearn the basic concepts used in this course)

Syllabus

Module 1: Tourism Studies and Development

In module 1, you will learn more about the cases from which we will depart in this course. Each case represents a unique setting in which tourism develops one way or another. As situational these cases appear, they may well connect with other practices that you are familiar with or have a special interest in. It is also possible to come up with your own case and find collaborators (other learners) who wish to join you in the exploration of this case. We very much welcome your creativity in outlining a case that is of interest to you!

If you are eager to move forward and engage in a dialogue on these cases, you must enrol as a verified learner. As a verified learner, you are given access to your own team environment but also to previous ideas developed in this course. You can work with other international team members on a case of your choice, share inspiring solutions to problems addressed, participate in (optional) fieldwork and engage in analyses corresponding to modules 2-4.

Module 2: Psychology of Tourism

In module 2, you will get an overview of the psychology of tourism and explain tourist experiences before, during and after holiday trips.

Module 3: Sociology of Tourism

In module 3, you will get an overview of the sociology of tourism, and learn how to explore the policy environment of any tourism case.

Module 4: Geography of Tourism

In module 4, you will get an overview of the geography of tourism, and learn how to explore the politics of place making and objects in tourism contexts.

Wrapping Up and Looking Forward

In module 5, we will invite you and your team members to present your group findings to all learners of this course. As such, you can possibly become inspired with the work of other learners in this course and gain final feedback to improve your final team vision.

Finally, verified learners can complete this course by filing a personal report in which you reflect on the team process and outcomes individually.