Sustainable Travel-Developing Conscious Travel

Course Overview: Before Covid19 hit, the tourism industry made up 10.3% of the world’s GDP. In 2020, because of the global pandemic and according to a recently released report by the United Nations, the worlds’ tourism industry has dropped to at least 4.2% in 2020. The way people traveled before 2020, in many ways, negatively impacted the environment, local economies, and local cultures. It’s time to change that.
This course focuses on understanding the three pillars of sustainability and how they apply to the tourism industry. The course also identifies possible and achievable solutions to the tourism industry that can provide more sustainable travel opportunities positively as it comes back to life in 2021. The world experienced Covid 19 together and now has an opportunity and responsibility to reimagine the tourism industry together, for generations to come.
Course Goal and Outcomes: Develop an understanding of the impact that tourism can have on the three pillars of sustainability and why properly dealing with non-viable practices in the travel industry will be crucial as the population of the world increases, the world recovers from the pandemic and people begin to travel once again. Become an advocate for sustainable travel and provide opportunities to improve local economies, maintain the local culture, and help implement environmentally friendly travel. The course has 5 modules. Each module is anywhere between 30-45 minutes. Successful completion of these modules will be given a certificate of completion for the course: Sustainable Travel- Developing Conscious Travel.
Course Schedule/Time Frame: Asynchronous, self-paced course that can be completed in approximately 3-3-5hours depending on the speed at which you work.
Module 1 What IS Sustainability?
Introductory slide show/lecture from the instructor and short video. What is sustainable travel?
Ted Talk-Doug Lansky
A quick check to see if you were paying attention.
Module 2 Tourism and Environmental Impact
There are many environmental impacts that the travel industry has imposed on our planet. One of the largest problems is plastic. This lesson will focus on how the tourism industry has contributed to the plastic problem and resources that can be used to become part of the solution to the plastic problem.
Take this quick quiz that is based on the material from Module 2.
Module 3 Tourism and Impact on Local Economies
Module 4 Tourism and Social Impact
After viewing the video and analyzing the statistics provided by the UNWTO, you will be able to discuss how tourism can become a vehicle to alleviate poverty in less developed countries (LDC's).
Module 5 Developing Sustainable Tourism and Travel Solutions
Resources and partnerships for sustainable travel.
How have hotels tackled the problem of food waste?