TOURISM, SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE - 1

The course is part of the core educational activities of the Master’s Degree Program in Tourism, Management, and Sustainability. This module, together with the one taught by Prof. Stefano Soriani, constitutes a single 12 CFU course, with shared objectives and teaching methods. The aim of the course is to provide conceptual knowledge to develop the ability to analyse and interpret tourist destinations, recognising their environmental and historical-cultural potential.

1.Knowledge and understanding:

1.1 Acquire the key concepts needed for a critical approach to interpreting geographies shaped by tourism.
1.2 Acquire knowledge of how tourism transforms places.
1.3 Understand the best practices that can be adopted to make tourism a sustainable practice.

2.Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
2.1 Analyze contemporary tourist destinations.
2.2 Analyze how tourist destinations can develop attractiveness (e.g. cultural tourism, heritage tourism, memory tourism, dark tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism).
2.3 Recognize the dynamics of tourism development (past or ongoing) and identify the social, cultural, and environmental issues connected to them.

3.Critical thinking
3.1 Evaluate the economic, environmental, and socio-cultural factors that contribute to the sustainability, or unsustainability, of tourism at different scales.

4.Communication skills:
4.1 Present the acquired knowledge in writing in a logical, coherent, and concise way.
4.2 Acquire the key terminology of the concepts used in the geography of tourism within the international Anglo-American academic debate.

Being able to read, speak, and write in English.

Tourism and Geography
Tourism and Place
How Tourism Invents Places
Urban Tourism
Tourism and Heritage
Tourism and Nature
Identity, Consumption, and Specialty Tourism
Transforming Travel

Lecture notes and chapters from the following texts:

Williams, S. (2014). Tourism Geography: Critical Understandings of Place, Space and Experience. Routledge.
Smith, J. (2017). Transforming Travel: Realising the Potential of Sustainable Tourism. CABI.

Other possible texts may include chapters from:

Nelson, V. (2021). An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism. Rowman & Littlefield.
Mason, P. (2023). Geography of Tourism: Image, Impacts and Issues.

The instructor will upload to Moodle, after each lecture, the material taken from the textbooks.

Each module includes a written exam consisting of 5 open-ended questions. The first 4 questions are worth 7.5 points each, while the fifth question is worth 1 point and is for distinction. This question will be graded only if the other 4 answers are perfect (awarded 7.5 points each, for a total of 30 points). The exam lasts 50 minutes.
The exam takes place in person in the classroom through the Moodle platform.

The exams for the first and second module may be taken either separately, in dedicated exam sessions, or at the same time.

The exam format will be presented in class during the first lecture, midway through the course, and at the end of the course, and it will also be uploaded to Moodle.

Further information about the exam will be provided in class during the course.

The exam questions — and the related answers — for this module are based on the notes taken in class during the lectures and on all the texts and materials uploaded to Moodle by the instructor during the course.

written

The lecturer has a duty to ensure that the rules regarding the authenticity and originality of exam tests and papers are respected. Therefore, if there is suspicion of irregular conduct, an additional assessment may be conducted, which could differ from the original exam description.

Module 1 is assessed by a 50-minute written examination consisting of five open-ended questions. The first four questions are worth 7.5 points each, for a maximum of 30 points. According to the Italian grading system, students pass the exam with a minimum score of 18/30. A fifth question, worth 1 additional point, is reserved for lode and is assessed only if the first four answers have received full marks (30/30). Successful completion of the fifth question results in a final mark of 30/30 e lode.

The course is delivered primarily through frontal teaching. Students’ participation is encouraged throughout the course.

It is recommended to enrol in the course’s Moodle page.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development