Quality improvement for the cross-border tourism in the Danube

Delta (Romania, Ukraine and Moldova)

Sustainable Tourism Syllabus

Naturefriends International

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500
 Sustainable Tourism
Course Course
Course Format SE SE SE
Format Format
Learning The course will focus on sustainable tourism from two perspectives, firstly
objectives from the sustainable development side and secondly from the tourism side.
As long as sustainable tourism is understood as a permanently evolving
paradigm the course needs to build up upon both prior and prevailing
research.
This seminar deals with the practical implementation of sustainable
development in tourism and aims at:
• Defining sustainable development
• Defining sustainable tourism
• Identifying key actors in sustainable tourism
• Analyzing the relation between tourist destinations and sustainability
• Identifying visitor management strategies for sustainable tourism
• Providing an overview of indicators for sustainable tourism
• Certification schemes and eco-labels
• Tourism policy implications

In the seminar sustainable tourism practises will be discussed and analyzed in

form of practical cases studies. The case studies will provide an insight into
different approaches of sustainable tourism. The variety of cases should
consider the different components and influencing factors of sustainable
tourism, i.e. key actors, destination varieties, visitor management strategies,
etc. The following question will be addressed: What kinds of structures for
implementing sustainable tourism are needed for different types of tourism?
Who are the key actors? What kinds of pre-requisites are needed at the
destination level? What challenges and bottlenecks can be identified?
By the end of the module students will be able
• to understand the principle of sustainable development and the link
with tourism.
• to define sustainable tourism
• to identify the trade offs in sustainable tourism
• to understand the role of different stakeholders and their participation
• to identify good practices in visitor management for sustainable
tourism
• to assess sustainable tourism cases along appropriate indicators

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500
Course The seminar can be separated in two different phases:
contents Introductory phase:

At the beginning of the semester we will start with some introductory lectures
focusing on the above mentioned concepts. This aims at providing a
theoretical basis which is needed for the case study analyses. These
introductory lectures will be complemented by short case studies which
illustrate the concepts under study. Students will be asked to reflect critically
upon the discussed concepts.

Concrete contents are:

• The three dimensions of sustainable tourism: focus on the definition
of the environmental, economic and social dimension of sustainable
tourism and their inter-relationship; work out the environmental,
economic and social impacts (positive and negative)
• Defining sustainable tourism: from mass tourism to nature-based
tourism, eco-tourism, responsible tourism, and sustainable tourism;
nature and scope of sustainable tourism
• The identification of the key actors in sustainable tourism, including
society as a whole, the public sector, the tourism industry, the non-
profit sector, the host community, media, and finally the tourists;
types of organizations; work out the links between them and to design
partnership opportunities
• Sustainable tourism and management: this includes a broad overview
of marketing, human resource management, operations management,
financial management; to identify the role and importance of these
functional management areas
• Tourist destinations and attractions: refers to the geography, the
vulnerability, the uniqueness, etc. of destinations (‘the role of place’);
typology of visitor attractions; positive and negative roles of tourism
attractions
• Tourism sectors and their impacts: tour operators, transport,
hospitality,
• Types of tourism: to work out the impact of different types of tourism
• Indicators for sustainable tourism: what to measure?, what type of
indicators?, how to organize indicators?, where to measure?, Bellagio
Principles, WTO indicators
• Certification Schemes and Eco-labels: Corporate environmental
management and auditing (ISO 14000/140001, EMAS),
Environmental impact assessment, Environmental policies and
statements, Corporate social responsibility (CSR);

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500
 Case study phase:

After this introductory phase students will start to work on particular case
studies. At the beginning we will start with a common case study which will
be prepared and analyzed in class. Afterwards groups of students will be
asked to search for case studies of their own interest which should be ideally
documented in a comprehensive manner (e.g. journal article or report).
Students are then invited to search for additional information and material
which will help them to analyze the cases in more detail.

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500
Detailed schedule for each unit
Unit / Date
Unit 1 Topic
Unit 2 Kick-off session and introduction:
(90 min)
Welcome, overview and goals of the course
Preparation for the next unit
Unit 3 Introductory phase:
(90 min) Sustainable development – an integrative approach
Defining sustainable development
Normative principles of sustainable development

Unit 4 Introductory phase:

(180 min) From conventional tourism to sustainable tourism:
• Defining sustainable tourism: nature-based tourism, eco-tourism,
responsible tourism, sustainable tourism
• Identifying key actors in sustainable tourism
• Visitor management strategies
• Destinations

Unit 5 Introductory phase:

(180 min) Sustainable tourism and tourism sectors
Sustainable tourism and types of tourism

Unit 6 Introductory phase:

(180 min) Indicators for sustainable tourism
Certification Schemes and Eco-labels as Tools for Sustainable Tourism
Development: Trends and Outlook from a European Perspective
Unit 7 Case study phase:
(180 min) Common case study – preparation and analysis along a given analysis grid
Students divide into groups and select a case study of their choice
Unit 8 Case study phase:
(90 min) Consultation with groups
Unit 9 Case study phase:
(90 min) Case study presentations
Unit 10 Case study phase:
(180 min) Final student presentations

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500
Reading For a general overview:
material
Baker, S. (2006): Sustainable Development. London and New York: Routledge.
Strange, T. and Bayley, A. (2008): Sustainable Development. Linking Economy, Society,
Environment. Paris: OECD.
Page, S.J. and Connell, J. (2006) Tourism a modern synthesis. Second edition. London:
Thomson.
Weaver, D. (2006) Sustainable tourism. Oxford: Elsevier.
Goodwin, H. (2011). Taking responsibility for tourism. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers
Ltd.
Swarbrooke, J. (2005) Sustainable Tourism Management. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
Miller, G. And Twinin-Ward, L. (2005) Monitoring for a sustainable tourism transition.
The challenge of developing and using indicators. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
Holden, A. (2000) Environment and tourism. London & New York: Routledge.
Case Studies:
Pleumarom, A. (2002) How sustainable is Mekong tourism? In: Harris, R. (ed.)
Sustainable tourism. A global perspective. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 140-166.
Swarbrooke, J. (2005) Sustainable Tourism Management. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
pp. 183-192.
Swarbrooke, J. (2005) Sustainable Tourism Management. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
pp. 217-229
Swarbrooke, J. (2005) Sustainable Tourism Management. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
Pp. 255-265

Additional reading
Fennell, D. (2008) Ecotourism. Third edition. London & New York: Routledge.
Butcher, J. (2007) Ecotourism, NGOs and development. London & New York: Routledge.
Hall, C.M. and Lew, A.A. (1998) Sustainable tourism. A geographical perspective. Essex:
Prentice Hall.
Page, S.J. and Dowling, R.K. (2002) Ecotourism. Essex: Prentice Hall.

Teaching The course follows an interactive teaching approach which means that students are
approach encouraged to actively participate in the course by discussing concepts and
theories as well as case studies. Since the seminar consists of two complementary
parts we will use various interactive methods, e.g. literature reflection, small group
discussions, roundtable discussions, presentations, case simulation, etc.

Landscape of the Year – European Network

for competitive and sustainable tourism
SI2.ACGRACE 034110500