Course information

The course aims to provide students with a broad understanding of environmental issues and their impact on the tourism sector. The natural environments of regional and global destinations will be explored to enable students to assess tourism’s dependency on environmental factors and the changing nature of domestic and international policies in this respect. It also introduces students to the main issues of sustainability and tourism in a regional and global context including theoretical models and empirical applications. Finally, an introduction to rural development is provided with a focus on the potential of regional/local products as a means of promoting economic growth. Students obtain an understanding of different approaches and models of sustainable development, the underlying assumptions, and main conclusions and policy implications. Students gain comprehension on the goals of sustainable tourism and development policies in rural areas and regulatory tools to implement them. Students will develop the capacity to understand economic and policy issues related to environmental and natural resource use, the micro-and macroeconomic foundations of environmental theory and policy, as well as models of environmental change and sustainability and apply this information to real-world situations.