27700 Sustainable Tourism Management

Faculty of Business: Leisure, Sport and Tourism
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Postgraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Handbook description

This subject provides an awareness of significant contemporary issues arising from tourism's impacts on its economic, physical, social and cultural environments, and appropriate policy, planning and management responses to these issues. These issues form a significant part of the context in which modern tourism as a whole and specific firms within it operate

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

Discuss the relationship between tourism and its environmental resource base
Discuss the significance of tourism's impacts on the physical, social, cultural and economic environments and how these affect its sustainability
Demonstrate an understanding of the varying perspectives on, and interpretations of, the concept of sustainable tourism
Display an awareness of contemporary environmental issues which arise from tourism in Australia and internationally, and an ability to critically examine those issues
Describe and critically discuss planning and management strategies, policies and industry practices designed to mitigate or control the impacts of tourism on its environments and thus produce more sustainable outcomes.

Contribution to graduate profile

Tourism's potential to generate significant environmental impacts on sustainability is a strong theme in contemporary tourism management. This subject examines the concept of sustainability as it applies to tourism and examines both the issues that underlie it and various policy and management practices that can be used to pursue it. Issues are discussed which are relevant to the management and development of tourist destinations as well as individual enterprises. Principles associated with sustainable management form a significant part of the ethical base on which contemporary tourism needs to operate.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject will be taught by using a combination of lectures, class discussions of set tasks and prescribed readings, audio-visual presentations, and student presentations based on their assignments. Lecture notes and other course material will be made available to students on UTS Online.

Content

Definitions of environments – natural/ecological, economic and socio-cultural and Broad concept of sustainability and influencing factors
General frameworks for analysing tourism's environmental impacts and the nature of tourism's relationship with environments
Natural/ecological, socio-cultural and economic impacts and implications
Varying interpretations of sustainable tourism and implications for management
Sources of market failure in tourism
Models of tourism development over time, e.g. destination life cycle – review and critique
Cultural heritage sites, coastal resorts, fragile communities and indigenous cultures and developing countries
Alternatives to mass tourism
Ecotourism as sustainable tourism – review and critique
Visitor management methods
Forms of government policy and regulatory mechanisms
The role of environmental/land use planning in the sustainable management of tourism
Overview of the environmental planning process and mechanisms for enhancing the sustainability of tourism.

Assessment

Essay 1: Interpreting sustainability (Individual)	35%
This will require students to prepare a 2,000-word essay which explores the concept of sustainability in the context of tourism. Students will be required to examine and discuss debates about the meaning of the concept in different contexts. This assignment addresses objectives 1-3.
Essay 2: Application of sustainable development principles (Individual)	35%
This will require students to prepare a 2,000-word essay which discusses the most significant challenges or problems that need to be confronted in applying the principles of sustainable development in particular tourism settings. Students must also demonstrate some awareness of management methods which might be appropriate in such settings. This assignment addresses objectives 2 and 4.
Project (Group)	30%
This project will require students to critically examine and evaluate sustainable management practices and initiatives which have been developed and applied in a specific sector, or sub-sector, of the Australian tourism industry. This assignment addresses objective 5.

Recommended text(s)

Book of Readings

Indicative references

Bramwell, B. et al (eds) (1998), Sustainable Tourism Management: Principles and Practice, 2nd ed., Tilburg University Press, Tilburg.

Font, X. and Buckley, R.C. (eds) (2001), Tourism Ecolabelling; Certification and Promotion of Sustainable Management, CABI, Oxford.

Hall, C.M. and Lew, A.A. (eds) (1998), Sustainable Tourism: a Geographical Perspective, Longman, Harlow.

Harris, R., Griffin, T. and Williams, P. (eds) (2002), Sustainable Tourism: a Global Perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Holden, A. (2000), Environment and Tourism, Routledge, London.

Laws, E., Faulkner, B. and Moscardo, G (eds) (1998), Embracing and Managing Change in

Mowforth, M. and Munt, I. (2003), Tourism and Sustainability: Development and New Tourism in the Third World, Routledge, London.

Newsome, D., Moore, S.A. and Dowling, R.K. (2002), Natural Area Tourism: Ecology, Impacts and Management, Channel View, Clevedon.

Robinson, M. and Boniface, P. (eds) (1999), Tourism and Cultural Conflicts, CABI Publishing, Oxford.

Wearing, S. and Neil, J. (1999), Ecotourism: Impacts, Potentials and Possibilities, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Weaver, D. (2001), Ecotourism, Wiley, Milton Qld.

Weaver, D. and Lawton, L. (1999), Sustainable Tourism: a Critical Analysis, CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Gold Coast.