Tourismus

Inhalte

Heritage places develop quite often a love and hate relationship with tourism. Representing an industry with one of the fastest, most sustained growth, tourism constitutes for many regions an important catalyst for development, with multiplier effects expanding far beyond the economic aspects. At the same time, it remains worldwide one of the most significant threats to heritage sites, leading in many cases to irreversible losses and dramatic changes within communities. Finding economically feasible, environmentally sustainable and socio-culturally sensitive solutions for tourism development constitutes one of the most important challenges for heritage site managers. This course focuses on the essentials of tourism management at heritage destinations. It prepares students to design tourism management models that balance tourist needs, regional development and the safeguarding of heritage places. The course will refer to the following aspects: - History and growth of heritage tourism - Components of the tourism system - Tourism demand, motivation and behaviour - Megatrends that are likely to influence travel in the future - The tourism supply chain - Key issues in destination planning and management - Marketing and branding for heritage destinations - Communities, stakeholders and partnerships - Visitor impacts: economic, environmental, social, cultural - Visitor management techniques and models - Interpretation and interpretive planning - The concept and practice of sustainable tourism. During the course, students will have the opportunity to apply the concepts and tools acquired from the lectures and develop an original tourism project for a heritage destination of their choice. As an overarching theme, the course will invite students to reflect on the link between heritage tourism and specific issues of contemporary concern (e.g. human rights, film and media, special interest tourism, ethical consumer behaviour, etc.), as well as to understand the larger impacts this professional field has in our society. Ultimately, the course encourages students to become more reflective travellers and more reflective tourism practitioners.