Introduction
This free course invites you to explore the paradox of modern travel – whether tourism can be both responsible and sustainable. Through case studies and reflection, you will start to understand the social, environmental, and economic forces that shape, and have shaped, global travel as we know it. By the end of the course, you will have a deeper understanding of tourism’s global impact and be ready to imagine how travel can better serve people, places, and, ultimately, the planet.
The course has seven parts. Each part should take no more than an hour of study.
- What is tourism?
- A brief history of tourism
- Two key aspects to explain why tourism matters – its global significance and tourism for development
- What is sustainability and what does sustainable tourism look like? Introduction to SEE: the three pillars of sustainable tourism – Social, Economic, and Environmental.
- What is responsible tourism and why is responsibility important? Whose responsibility is it?
- Key challenges and opportunities for tourism.
- The future of tourism. What do current trends tell us about whether tourism will be sustainable and responsible?
OpenLearn - Can tourism be both responsible and sustainable?
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.