Module Information

This module introduces students to a range of contemporary forms of tourism, such as rural tourism, backpacker tourism, food tourism and dark tourism, as well as considering more conventional 'mass' forms of tourism. In doing so, the module will examine current issues in the planning, management and marketing of tourism. The module is delivered through a series of lectures, which will serve to introduce the cases, followed up by workshops. The workshops will encourage students to open out the material and deepen their appreciation of it. Students will also have an opportunity to further develop and apply key learning, research and employability skills, building on those already developed in the pre-requisite module. This will include students working on their own and in groups, applying their oral and written communication skills, further developing their debating skills, improving their problem-solving abilities, working with numbers, gaining further library and research skills, and the making use of information technology.

This module focuses on contemporary case studies in tourism. These cases will cover 'mass' tourism as well as new forms of 'alternative' tourism that are now beginning to challenge the supremacy of mass tourism. Such alternative tourism forms include farm tourism, backpacker tourism, volunteer tourism, food (gastronomic) tourism and wine tourism, dark tourism (thanatourism), adventure tourism, ecotourism and heritage tourism. Emerging variants of mass tourism, for example low-budget tourism and all-inclusive tourism, will also be considered. The cases will emphasise contemporary issues in the strategic planning, operations management, marketing, product development, human resource management, financial, economic, community and policy aspects of tourism.