Overview of Course

As the popularity of tourism and recreation have increased globally and the numbers of people either participating or working in the related industry sectors have grown it is important to understand impacts and issues associated with tourism and recreation. We will adopt a triple bottom line approach to sustainability to examine contemporary issues associated with tourism and recreation, incorporating social, economic and environmental analyses and draw upon relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to frame our analysis. Issues such as overtourism, , small-island resiliency, the rise of mindfulness and wellbeing, travel trends such as solo travel and dark tourism, wildlife tourism and protected areas, , understanding perception of risk and tourist behaviors and flows, managing climate change and the increased need for crisis management, and the threats and opportunities associated with technology and artificial intelligence will be some of the topics covered. We will adopt a global perspective and use port visits on our voyage as case studies to apply concepts from the classroom to understanding the real world. This class will draw upon relevant concepts and theories, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help students understand and interpret what they are seeing and experiencing as they travel the world. Understanding and applying principles of sustainability will be central to discussions in this class. Students will examine the socio-political structures underpinning the issues facing recreation and tourism including the need to build resiliency into future plans with the aim of mediating negative impacts and enhancing quality of life for people and communities.