Sustainable Tourism Management

This course addresses the nature and scope of sustainable tourism leadership at the local, national, and international levels. Students will identify and evaluate principal innovators, agencies and stakeholders in sustainable tourism planning and management in different geographical regions and the competencies and strategies required to successfully engage them. Case studies will be used to explore obstacles in sustainable tourism leadership and to identify effective strategies for planning, initiating, and implementing sustainable tourism policies and practices. Sustainable tourism leadership in the Adirondack Park will be used as a basis for inquiry and comparison to other global destinations.

This course places emphasis on the new cultural economy, born from the trends of globalization and a desire for travel experiences over products. With destinations recognizing how the cultural capital of a place is a growing tourism driver, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and other tourism professionals must begin to employ this strategy while protecting the very resource being used. Students will use best practices guides, case studies and individual research and strategic planning application to explore these topics.

This course explores and provides a perspective on nature-based sustainable tourism practices and their interrelationships with human culture and ecosystem health. Detailed exploration of regional, national and international case studies will afford insights into the various forms of nature-based tourism (mass tourism, adventure travel, ecotourism,etc.), the interaction between nature-based tourism and local ecosystems and the professional and ethical obligations of naturebased tourism providers to society and the global environment. This course clarifies the promises and pitfalls of the various forms of “green” adventure travel, recreation, and tourism, referring to related concepts and trends such as the international sustainable development movement, greenwashing, bioregional planning, protected area management, circular economy, community-based tourism, “voluntourism” and tourism certification.

This course is primarily concerned with the continued challenges and opportunities of finding sustainable patterns and processes of development within the international community for the future.  This course also provides a historic look at the demographic pressure on renewable and non-renewable resources and demonstrates the need for management strategies.  Management of both resource supply and demand is considered.  Sustainable resource management methods are applied to specific resources including soil, water, minerals, forests, energy, and food.  The inter-relationship and sustainability between natural and cultural resources are studied. (3 hours lecture).  Completes General Education Requirements: WC-I, LAS.

This course emphasizes the role of international food and beverage provision in the greater tourism industry. This facet of tourism provides many benefits including an increase in local pride, unique opportunities to attract quality tourists, bridging and sharing cultural differences, and providing greater economic impact than other components of tourism. Students will study the stakeholders involved, the psychoculinary profile of food travelers, the food and major experiences offered, related value chains, potential economic impact, and the evolution and future directions of food travel.

The Sustainable Tourism Marketing and Communication course is designed to focus on marketing strategies that consider and address the negative impact on natural, social, and cultural environments. Sustainable tourism marketing strives to minimize negative externalities on host communities, while elucidating the benefits of sustainability in practice as a desired feature of the destination experience. This course will expose the learner to the practice of marketing in sustainable tourism by examining the current literature and analyzing the Adirondack Mountain Region. Learners will develop and deliver a marketing plan and strategic communications for a destination, business or organization. Learners will also gain knowledge on sustainable tourism marketing practices from around the world.

This course will highlight the role that entrepreneurs play in building sustainable tourism in a community. An entrepreneur identifies a need, discovers a profitable business solution, and then pursues the venture. For tourism to be sustained in a region, a balance among existing business, new business, and community needs to be attained. The engaged community turns to entrepreneurship to innovate current businesses and create new enterprises to maintain and sustain the tourism-based economy. The focus of this course is to teach community leaders how to foster the rise of entrepreneurs.

This course explores the tangible and intangible socio-cultural influences that tourism has on a destination and mechanisms to measure the short-term and long-term effects of tourism on a community. A detailed exploration of regional, national, and international case studies will provide insights into the various forms of socio-cultural and socio-economic impacts that tourism has on a hostcommunity as well as strategies for a destination to leverage the positive influences and to mitigate the negative impacts. Students will study the diverse range of stakeholders involved with tourism, influences that the industry has on social, cultural, economic, and racial identities, community well-being, the social-exchange theory, commercialization of culture, as well as changes in social values, morality, and behavior.

This course will cover important economic principles relevant to natural resource management with an emphasis on forest-based resources. Topics will include supply and demand, pricing, investment evaluation, net revenue maximization, non-timber forest products and the emerging field of ecosystem service valuation. These topics will be explored through a variety of case studies, both domestic and international in scope. Emphasis will be placed on learning to construct strong, defensible, land-use arguments through the use of quantitative analysis.

This course is a study of the principles and techniques of environmental resource analysis, landscape and scenery classification, and procedures for environmental quality and impact analysis. The course will present basic information on land classification, landscape patterns, function, and evaluation. It will define the difference between foreground, middle ground, and background and stress their importance in enhancing or detracting from the visitor experience. In addition, a sense of how the resource manager relates to users is developed. Students are encouraged to utilize their creativity and problem-solving skills to issues facing the industry.