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Community Tourism: Impacts, Planning, and Management


Course Description

Examines social-cultural aspects surrounding the impacts, planning, and management of tourism development at the community level. A survey of various topics will prepare students to undertake a community-focused research project examining residents' perceptions of tourism impacts as an aspect of tourism planning to inform management decisions.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Each graduate student will serve as a project manager for the research study that the class will undertake. As such, each graduate student will assist in logistical planning of the research design, data collection, sampling, and data analysis. Each week, each graduate student will submit a one-page written progress report regarding the research project. Within the report, graduate students will comment on accomplished tasks, tasks to perform in following week, along with issues/concerns that have developed or they foresee in the near future. The reports will be written in APA, Times New Roman 11-point font and be between 500-1000 words, single- spaced. Undergraduates will have the potential to earn the full 100 points for the course. Graduate students, in serving as project managers and submitting weekly written progress reports, will have the potential to earn the full 110 points for the course.


Athena Title

Community Tourism


Prerequisite

PRTM 4700


Undergraduate Pre or Corequisite

FANR 3400-3400D or PRTM 3310 or FANR 4202/6202-4202D/6202D


Semester Course Offered

Offered spring


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

1. Critically read, evaluate, and analyze (through weekly writing) scholarly writings pertaining to social-cultural tourism aspects focused on impacts, planning, and management for tourism development. 2. Evaluate and effectively communicate critique of scholarly work through discussion-based seminars. 3. Facilitate and deliver a presentation (based on a journal article) of selected work on course topics concerning one of the following: resident-tourist interactive relationships, residents’ attitudes of tourism, demonstration and acculturation effect, authenticity and commodification, cultural and heritage tourism, sex tourism, tourism disruptions, volunteer tourism, qualitative or quantitative measurement of tourism impacts, tourism planning, or tourism management. 4. Articulate a critique of a recently-written book (i.e., book review) on the topic of community tourism. 5. Execute a community-focused research project concerning residents’ perceptions of social-cultural impacts of tourism in a Georgia destination that will inform planning and management (culminating in a written report and class visual presentation). 6. Serve as project manager (assisting in logistical planning for research project and submitting weekly progress reports), overseeing community-focused research project for undergraduate students (graduate students only).


Topical Outline

-systems approach to tourism -conceptual models pertaining to social-cultural impacts -guiding theoretical frameworks surrounding social-cultural tourism phenomena -resident-tourist interactive relationships -resident attitudes toward tourism -demonstration and acculturation effect -authenticity and commodification -cultural and heritage tourism -sex tourism -tourism disruptions -volunteer tourism -qualitative measurement -quantitative measurement -planning approaches -tools and techniques for tourism planning -management informed through proactive planning