Responsible Tourism Management (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

0-5

Objective

The purpose of this course is to deepen your understanding in responsible tourism. You will learn more about different dimensions of responsibility and their relevance to tourism development. After this course you understand how responsibility can be enhanced both in company, destination and national level.

Competences
Tourism business, Sustainable development

Learning objectives
You identify different stakeholders and their roles in responsible tourism. You define climate change and can list climate actions in tourism. You are able to list the most important programs, certificates and labels concerning the development of responsible tourism. You understand the importance of safety and security in the tourism and hospitality industry. You know the basic laws within the tourism and hospitality industry.

Content

- Different dimensions of responsibility in practise
- Social responsibility: law-issues in tourism, safety and security, stakeholders,
encounters with local community and tourists
- Environmental responsibility: Climate change and climate actions in tourism
- Tools to develop responsibility in company, destination and national level: criteria,
certificates, labels, programs

Location and time

Lectures twice a week except for two online intensive weeks. First intensive week will be organised in cooperation with Nordic responsible tourism network from 11th until 13th November and the lectures will be organised then online from Tuesday until Thursday from 2-5 pm. Current topics on responsible tourism will be discussed during the intensive week.

Other intensive week is organised by visiting lecturer on law issues in tourism. Timing of the intensive week will be announced later.

Materials

Goodwin, H. 2016. Responsible Tourism. Using Tourism for Sustainable Development. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers.Laws and regulations in tourism.
Act on Travel Service Combinations 901/2017
Collective Agreement for the Hotel, Restaurant and Leisure Industry – Employees.

Teaching methods

This course is implemented as a face-to-face teaching. You will also study in the Moodle learning environment. You will find the course instructions, schedules, assignments and study materials on Moodle. In contact classes, you will familiarize yourself with the topic through lectures, workshops and company visits.
You will also participate in completing applied learning tasks individually and in groups. In groups, you will reflect and share what you have learned communally with your peers.

You will participate in the first contact meeting, which will confirm your presence in the course.

Supervision
You will receive supervision in face-to-face teaching directly from the teacher and in the Moodle learning environment (including a question and answer column). You will also receive supervision from your peers.

Feedback
You will receive qualitative assessment and feedback on your group and learning tasks.
You will provide feedback on the course (final feedback) implementation.

Employer connections

In the course, you will meet representatives from the business world who will support your understanding of sustainability and responsibility issues in tourism.

The course supports the building of local networks and industry expertise through visits to local companies.

Exam schedules

In this course you will test your own understanding about safety, security and law issues in tourism. During the course you will do two separate test; one in safety and security issues and the other in law issues. The test will be opened in Moodle after you have learned the themes in classroom. You have two weeks time to do the tests, and three attempts to pass the tests.

International connections

An internationalization perspective is applied to this implementation using international examples and material on current topics in responsible tourism.

Student workload

Orientation (2 hours): You will become familiar with the learning objectives, content and tasks; you will plan your time management and personal learning goals.

Theoretical knowledge (70 hours): You will participate in lectures and study independently. You will prepare for safety and legal tests.

Applied competence (60 hours): You will actively participate in individual and group tasks that apply theory and act as an active member of the group, providing different perspectives on concrete examples.

Self-assessment and course evaluation (3 hours): Finally, you will evaluate your own learning and the implementation of the course.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

1 (Sufficient) You identify different stakeholders and their roles in responsible tourism. You define climate change and can list climate actions in tourism. You are able to list the most important programmes, certificates and labels concerning development of responsible tourism. You understand the importance of safety and security in hospitality industry. You know the basic laws within tourism industry.

2 (Satisfactory) You can explain different stakeholders and their roles in responsible tourism. You understand climate change and can list climate actions in tourism. You understand the importance of safety and security in hospitality industry. You know the basic laws within tourism industry. You are able to categorize the most important programmes, certificates and labels concerning development of responsible tourism.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

3 (Good) You understand perspectives of different stakeholders in responsible tourism. You are able to illustrate the climate change actions in tourism. You demonstrate how safety and security is implemented in hospitality industry. You can apply the basic laws within tourism industry. You can explain the most important programmes, certificates and labels concerning development of responsible tourism.

4 (Very Good) You can analyze different stakeholders´ roles in responsible tourism. You can compare climate change actions in tourism. You demonstrate how safety and security is implemented in hospitality industry. You can apply the basic laws within tourism industry. You can compare the most important programmes, certificates and labels concerning development of responsible tourism.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

5 (Excellent) You evaluate different stakeholders´ roles in responsible tourism. You can justify climate change actions in tourism. You demonstrate how safety and security is implemented in hospitality industry. You can apply the basic laws within tourism industry. You can critize the most important programmes, certificates and labels concerning development of responsible tourism.

Qualifications

Basic understanding of tourism industry and responsible tourism

Further information

The assessment of the assignments is based on the assessment criteria of the course, in addition to which you assess your own learning. Passing the course requires passing all assignments.

Tests on safety and legal issues (pass-fail)
A mapping assignment of good practices in responsible tourism (individual assignment, assessment 1-5)
Active participation in lectures and workshops (80 % attendance requirement)

The course follows the updated Arene recommendations and Jamk rules in the utilization of artificial intelligence, instructions and possible ethical issues.