Class Geopolitics of Tourism

This discipline covers basic concepts of geopolitics and contextualises tourism in the global geopolitical context. The aim is to enable students to critically analyse this context in order to make more informed strategic management and destination marketing decisions, and consequently, adopt strategies that are sensitive to the global scenario and result in more effective results in terms of competitiveness. In this way, the aim is to make students more capable of using tourism as a tool for local development by understanding the bilateral relationship it has with the regional and global geopolitical scenario.

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What is geopolitics and why should we study it as tourism professionals? Advocating a critical geopolitics for tourism destination management. The geopolitics of the globalised (neo)liberal world and its implications for tourism. Destination management in the context of ‘popular geopolitics’. Climate geopolitics: climate conferences and agreements, the decarbonisation agenda, and tourist destinations. Geopolitical encounters in tourism: temporal, bodily and identity encounters. Typology of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs).

The syllabus aims to lead students to absorb theoretical knowledge and apply it in practice. Thus, considering the unit’s online format, the synchronous sections include short lectures followed by activities, for which students must prepare in advance by reading texts and watching videos indicated by the professor. The activities employ techniques such as problem-based learning, gamification elements and the jigsaw classroom. Assessment, in turn, includes two elements: The final assignment (50%) and the ‘Activities’ component (50%). The final assignment, prepared and presented in parts during the last few weeks of the semester, consists of a case study based on the theoretical contributions addressed through the discipline. The ‘Activities’ component (50%) comprises all the other exercises given for home or developed during the synchronous sessions.

Carbone, F. (2017). International tourism and cultural diplomacy: A new conceptual approach towards global mutual understanding and peace through tourism. Tourism. An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 65(1), 61–74. da Silva, J. T., Breda, Z., & Carbone, F. (Eds.). (2020). Role and Impact of Tourism in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation. Hershey, PA, EUA: IGI Global. Dodds, K. (2019). Geopolitics: A very short introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gillen, J., & Mostafanezhad, M. (2019). Geopolitical encounters of tourism: A conceptual approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 70–78. Hall, D. (Ed.). (2017). Tourism and geopolitics: Issues and concepts from Central and Eastern Europe. Oxfordshire, Wallingford: Cabi. Maslin, M. (2021). Climate Change: A Very Short Introduction (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reinhold, S., Beritelli, P., & Grünig, R. (2018). A business model typology for destination management organizations. Tourism Review.