SUSTAINABLE TOURISM MANAGEMENT

Tourism is one of the most important industries worldwide and is widely recognized as a key driver of economic growth. In addition to its substantial contribution to GDP (approximately 10%; World Bank 2025) and other economic measures, tourism also has notable social and environmental impacts. For instance, it is well known that travel and other tourist activities are major sources of carbon emissions. Therefore, policymakers and businesses in tourism and hospitality are increasingly committed to developing policies and strategies focused on more sustainable management of tourism and leisure activities. This course is designed around the above considerations. It begins by illustrating the main characteristics, concepts, and dynamics of the tourism and hospitality sector. The course then explains the importance of adopting a sustainable approach to tourism management, focusing on critical issues such as overtourism and tourists’ (dis)engagement in sustainable practices. Classes will address sustainability issues with a focus on assessment methods and behavioral approaches to better understand the barriers to and drivers of tourists’ engagement in sustainable actions. The course concludes with a deep discussion of how to integrate sustainability principles and tools into the strategic marketing planning processes of destination management organizations (DMOs) and hospitality businesses. During classes, students will have the opportunity not only to learn existing concepts from the textbook but also to collaboratively create new knowledge by critically discussing technical reports and academic articles.

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After this course, students will be able to: Knowledge and understanding - Know the main characteristics and concepts of the tourism and hospitality industry; - Understand and critically discuss the main issues regarding sustainability and sustainable tourism management. Applying knowledge and understanding - Examine real (or realistic) problems related to (un)sustainability in destination and hospitality marketing and management; - Compare real situations, strategies, and tactics for more sustainable tourism management by identifying strengths and weaknesses; - Choose or design appropriate strategies, tools, or solutions to practical problems and evaluate their effectiveness. Making judgements - Address practical problems by working, either individually or in groups, on specific assignments; - Critically appraise, adapt, and re-arrange existing concepts to develop implementable creative solutions to challenging situations. Communication skills - Develop the necessary writing and oral communication skills; - Summarize prior research findings on the central topics of the course; - Defend their point of view and convince the audience of the validity of their arguments. Learning skills - Criticize prior research findings on the topic; - Develop new research questions and hypotheses regarding sustainable tourism management.

The course will cover the following topics: - Introduction to the tourism industry - Key concepts in tourism management - Sustainability in destination and hospitality management and marketing - Barriers to and drivers of sustainable practices in tourism - Sustainable marketing planning in destination and hospitality management

Attending students (i.e., those who participate in all graded in-class activities) must study the following materials for the final oral exam: - George R. (2025). Marketing Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts and Cases. Palgrave [Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15]. - Instructor’s PPT presentations discussed in class (Attending students might be asked to read additional technical reports and/or papers during classes) In addition to the materials assigned to attending students, non-attending students must study the following materials for the final oral exam: - Dolnicar S. (2020). Designing for more environmentally friendly tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 84, 102933. - European Commission (2016). The European Tourism Indicator System – ETIS toolkit for sustainable destination management - Mihalic T. (2020). Conceptualising overtourism: A sustainability approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 74, 103025. - Pike S. et al. (2014). Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism Management, 41, 202-227. - White K. et al. (2018). How to SHIFT consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83 (3), 23-49.

- Lectures - Case-study discussion - Group work - Practical exercises - Flipped classroom - Project work - In-class presentation

Attending students’ assessment is based on the following activities: - In-class activities (whether individual or in groups). These include short essays, in-class presentations, and/or project work. This continuous assessment accounts for 70% of the overall grade. - Final oral exam on the topics discussed in class and the textbook’s chapters. This exam accounts for 30% of the overall grade. Attending students will receive separate evaluations for the in-class activities (as an average grade) and the final exam. They will pass the exam only if each evaluation is equal to 18/30 or higher. If an attending student does not take part in one or more of the continuous assessment activities, the student will be assigned a grade of 0 for that/those activity(ies), which will average the overall grade. Attending students are not allowed to reject part or all of the grade earned through continuous assessment. However, the combination of continuous assessment (70%) and the final exam (30%) is valid only for exams scheduled at the end of the semester in which the course is taught (May and June). In later exam sessions, all the students will be assessed based on a final exam accounting for 100% of the overall final grade. Non-attending students shall take the final oral exam. This exam will cover the topics discussed in class and/or described in the selected textbook’s chapters and the readings specifically assigned to them to compensate for the missed knowledge acquisition over the semester. This exam will account for 100% of the overall assessment.

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