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Crawford School of Public Policy · ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
This course is available for in-person and remote (online) learning. Tourism is a large, resource intensive industry of interest to applied researchers from a wide range of academic disciplines. Eco-cultural tourism, much of it based on World Heritage sites and national parks, is the fastest growing tourism sector. As one of the main arenas for contact between cultures and with other species, tourism's extreme focus on pleasure, often in circumstances of stark inequality, raises difficult ethical questions. In twenty of the poorest 48 nations, tourism is either the first or second earner of foreign income and the World Tourism Council argues that it is a powerful force for alleviating world poverty. What pre-conditions are needed for that to be true? Who benefits and who pays the costs from major tourism development projects? Does tourism change the way in which the host communities see themselves? What are the long term impacts resulting from the interaction of different cultures? Where do World Heritage sites and national parks fit in the mix? How does tourism affect Indigenous peoples living in World Heritage designated regions? Are there tensions between tourism and mining, agriculture and urban and coastal development? What are the challenges for the social welfare, education and health sectors? Does tourism promote corruption? How successful are certification programs in promoting sustainability and socially responsible behaviour? What should be the role of governments? These and similar questions will be investigated through seminar based workshops, with field visits involving regionally based researchers, policy and management practitioners, non-government organizations, industry representatives and local Indigenous peoples. This course requires a permission code to enrol.
1000 word essay on one of the major workshop themes before departure.
Learning outcomes 2
Journal reflecting on the daily progress of the workshop focusing in particular on the research policy relationship as discussed with regional policy makers and managers in their presentations and during the field trips.
Learning outcomes 3, 4
300 word outline of the proposed independent essay topic which also places their project on the research continuum listed in LO one
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Post-workshop 4000 word independent research essay.
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
36 hours organised class time plus required attendance on the field trip. There may be additional costs associated with the field trip. Work Integrated Learning Fieldwork The WIL component of this course is an extended field experience allowing the application of concepts and skills in a real world setting. Other Information Contested Heritage will be the theme for the 2021 Eco-Cultural Tourism Workshop which will be conducted in Canberra on 8-12 November, preceded in the previous week by two online evening sessions. Students will visit places that prompt questions central to the identity of contemporary Australia and in response will develop individual research projects taking account of their personal interests. (In many cases examining their home societies, in Australia or elsewhere.) They will discuss how Australia should be governed and what should be its national priorities? Diverse answers are offered by the national parliament, the ACT Assembly (a regional alternative to the states-based model of federal Australia) the Museum of Democracy in Old Parliament House, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on its doorstep and its would-be replacement down the hill, Reconciliation Place. Over the lake at the War Memorial they will debate whether Australia is a peace loving or warrior nation and should that institution also commemorate the colonial genocidal black wars? At the national museum attention will focus on tensions between colonial development, Aboriginal displacement and environmental degradation. Further questions about the environment will result from visits to the arboretum, the national botanic gardens – the country’s first to specialise in Australia flora – Namadgi National Park, and nature reserves such as Mulligan’s Flat with its rewilding projects. Cultural institutions such as the National Art Gallery and the National Library will be used to stimulate discussions about relations between cultures and the changing character of Australia of which Canberra provides a striking example. Once renowned for its dourness and respectability the city is now a national leader on many progressive issues with a substantial sex industry and a flourishing gambling casino (local testament to that industry’s deep knowledge of the skills required for policy/state capture).
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