PRT 230 - Ecotourism
Fall, 2013
Location:
Meeting Time:
Aiken 110
11:30 to 12:45 p.m. – Tuesday and Thursday
Instructor:
Walt Kuentzel
[email protected]
308-H Aiken Center (656-0652)
Office Hours:
10:00 – 12:00 Monday and Wednesday
Or by appointment
Course Objectives: This course will explore the growing social phenomenon of nature-based
travel and sustainable tourism with a focus on travel to international destinations. We will
explore 4 major themes throughout the semester:
1) Tourism, ecotourism, and contemporary social change
2) Ecotourism as a tool for “positive” development
3) Sustainability in the hospitality industry
4) Ecotourism and green design practices
Required Texts: (Available at the UVM Book Store).
Honey, Martha. (2008). Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? (2nd
Edition) Washington, DC: Island Press.
Sloan, P., Legrand, W., & Chen. J. S. (2013). Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry:
Principles of Sustainable Operations (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge
Course Reading Packet: Available on Course Web Page as Adobe Acrobat PDF files:
http://www.uvm.edu/envnr/rm230/
Office Hours: I invite and encourage you to stop in during office hours to talk about the course,
talk about travel and tourism, or talk about anything else on your mind. If the office hours are
inconvenient for you, feel free to schedule an appointment. If stopping by the office is
inconvenient, please contact me via email ([email protected]), or by phone. My direct
number is 656-0652.
Course Assignments
I. Book Report (15% of Grade) - International travel before 1940. Find a book that describes
someone’s international travel experience. It may be a book of your choosing, but the text must
have been written between 1860 and 1940. It also must be a first-person account, not an account
of someone else’s travel experiences. The book should describe travel to an “exotic” destination.
This means a non-European destination and non-United States destination - generally some
undeveloped region or third world region of the world. Please check with me about the title you
choose. (See me sooner, rather than later if you run into trouble.) Read the book and write a book
report that addresses the following questions:
1) Describe what they did, what they saw, and what they thought about what they saw. As
travelers, how did they portray or think about themselves and their accomplishments?
2) After reading the chapters from Boorstin, MacCannell, and Kuentzel, first, summarize
each writers’ ideas about the differences between historic and contemporary travel. Next,
how does the travel experience you read support the generalizations about travel made by
the three writers, and how does the travel experience contradict their generalizations? Be
sure to provide specific examples.
3. Given what you know so far, which of the three writers do you think provides the more
compelling framework for thinking about contemporary sustainable tourism practices and
the future of ecotourism? Be sure to justify your position with a well-reasoned argument.
Parts 1 should cover about 3 pages, part 2 should cover about 3-4 pages, and part 3 should cover
about 1-2 pages: 9 pages (double-spaced) maximum.
Believe it or not, the UVM library has plenty of titles that would qualify. Below are some
examples with call numbers.
Bowman, I. (1920). The Andes of Southern Peru: A Geographical Reconnaissance along
the Seventy Third Meridian. London: Constable and Company, Ltd. GB 165.B7
Burton, R. F. (1876). Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo. London:
S. Low, Marston, Low, and Searle. Special Collections Rare Book DT479.B97
Dyott, G. M. (1926). On the Trail of the Unknown in the Wilds of Ecuador and the
Amazon. London: Butterworth. F3714.D76
Franck, H. A. (1917). Vagabonding in the Andes: Being the Narrative of a Journey
Chiefly Afoot, from Panama to Buenos Aires. Garden City, NJ: Garden City Publishing
Company. F223.F82
You can also find full-text books on line. For example, go to:
http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
or the Amazon Kindle Store if you have a Kindle or Kindle app on your phone
To find a book in the UVM catalog or online, do a keyword search (not “title” or
“subject”) using the words “travel” and your destination. For example “travel” and
“Africa” or “travel” and “Brazil,” etc.
There are a few types of books that are not acceptable. Stay away from novelists (e.g.,
Hemingway’s “Green Hills of Africa” or any of Mark Twain’s travel accounts). Also I will not
accept books about travel to Antarctica or to the Arctic. These types of people were more in the
category of adventurers – not travelers.
II. Two Tests (15% each – one on October 3 and one on December 12)
III. Global Case Studies – (10% of grade) – You will be divided into eight groups of five
people each, and will profile ecotourism in a developing country. There are five discrete tasks
that may be split among members of your group.
1) Describe government policy and marketing of ecotourism in your destination country.
2) Describe the ecotourism/nature-based tourism attractions
3) Describe the ecotourism infrastructure – ecolodges, tour operators, etc.
4) How well is the country’s ecotourism industry integrated into their larger tourism
infrastructure?
5) Conclude by listing three things that provide your country with a competitive
advantage in ecotourism development, and three things that are obstacles or challenges to
ecotourism development.
For this assignment you will a) prepare a 15-minute powerpoint presentation that will be
presented to the class (photos and graphics are fine, but no videos, please), and b) write a 5-6
page summary of your presentation to be handed in when you make your in-class presentation.
IV. Community Conservation (10% of grade) – Chose one of the three following protected
areas: 1) Arusha National Park (Tanzania), 2) Pantanal San Matias Reserve (Bolivia), or 3)
Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve (Yunnan Province, China). Find out all you can about the natural
and social environment of the one selected protected area and its surroundings.
Pretend that each of these areas has been given to the Nature Conservancy, and they have asked
you to prepare a 10-year community conservation plan, with the goal of turning over complete
management authority at the end of the 10 years to local/indigenous people who live in the
region. Specifically, you will need to:
1) Briefly describe the natural and social environment of the area – landscape, climate,
unique characteristics of the region. Who and what lives and grows there?
2) Describe the specific initiatives (drawn from class and readings) that you will take to
involve communities in conservation of the area, and specific ways that these
conservation initiatives will benefit local people.
3) In describing the initiatives in #2, how will you incrementally prepare the local
population in the kinds of resource management and administrative expertise that is
required to conserve a natural area on their own? This should include a time-line for
training and development of institutional structures needed to manage the resource.
Your paper should be 4-5 pages double spaced.
V. Sustainable Design – (10% of Grade) - In this assignment you will select a specific
sustainable design technology or practice – e.g., adobe construction, geothermal heating &
cooling, evaporative cooling systems, biogas generation, micro-hydro generators, and so forth. I
will provide you a list of acceptable topics by the end of October. You will then need to find out
and describe:
1) The technical details – how specifically does this technology or practice work?
2) What are the advantages and disadvantages? Are there places in the world where this
technology works better? What are the economic costs vs. benefits?
3) Find an example of an ecolodge or ecotourism related property that uses this
technology, and describe specifically how it meets the goals of sustainability for this
particular property.
You should write a 3-4 page paper, and be ready to discuss your example on the day(s) we cover
that topic in class.
VI. Ecolodge Plan - (20% of Grade) - You will work in groups of three to prepare an Ecolodge
Plan. Assume you have adequate (though not limitless) funding to build an ecolodge in a part of
the developing world of your choosing. Prepare a development plan that includes the following:
1) A description of the specific place you will build your ecolodge using the site
evaluation and planning (e.g., access, local communities, local building materials,
landscape, zoning) and site design guidelines (e.g., building placement, roads, plant
disturbance, drainage) from class and your readings. In addition you should discuss
architecture and principles of biophilic design.
2) A specific description of the business practices and design features you plan to use. It
isn’t necessary to include artwork of your plan (but see Google Sketch-Up if you want to
provide visual effects). But provide a comprehensive description that demonstrates your
understanding of material input systems and closed-loop management systems.
a) Specifically, you should describe in detail material use and flow - aesthetics,
energy use, water management, waste management, and building technologies –
and the ways these are integrated into a green design system.
b) Then you should describe in detail business operation practices – e.g., buying,
hiring, investment of profits, employee training, community involvement,
customer service, etc.
3. An assessment of your ecolodge’s contributions to the surrounding community,
economic profitability and impact, and environmental stewardship. Convince me that you
would be doing more good than harm by building your ecolodge.
Your ecolodge plan should be a minimum of 10 pages double spaced (not counting charts,
drawings, or bibliography).
VII. Attendance and Class Participation - (10% of Grade) Please note: You will not be able to
pass this class if you miss half or more of the classes during the semester (13 or more unexcused
absences.)
TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
DATE
TOPIC
READING ASSIGNMENT
August 27
Ecotourism: Market
Niche or New Business
Model?
August 29
What is Ecotourism?
Wood, M. E. (2002). Ecotourism:
Principles, Practices and Policies for
Sustainability. p. 7-32.
ASSIGNMENT
Bring pictures
(Facebook pages)
and souvenirs from
your international
travel experiences
Tourism in Modern Society
September 3
Traveler vs. Tourist:
Alternative Tourism
Boorstin, D. J. (1961) From traveler to
Tourist: The lost art of travel. Chapter
3 in: The Image, A guide to PseudoEvents in America. Pp. 77-117.
September 5
History of Travel
You should be reading in your selected
book by early travel writers
September 10
Authentic Tourism
MacCannell, D. (1967). Introduction
and Staged authenticity. Intro and
Chapter 5 in: The Tourist: A New
Theory of the Leisure Class. Pp. 1-16
and 91-108.
September 12
Tourism and
Globalization
Kuentzel, W. F. (2010) Hybridization
and Development along the Rincon
River.
Ecotourism and the Global Tourism Industry
September 17
Natural Capitalism
Lovins, A., Lovins, H., & Hawken, P.
A Road Map for Natural Capitalism.
September 19
From Nature Tourism to
Ecotourism?
Honey, M., (2008) Chapter 1 in
Ecotourism and Sustainable
Book Report
Development.
September 24
The Paradox of
Ecotourism
Honey, M., (2008). Chapter 2 in:
Ecotourism and Sustainable
Development.
September 26
Putting Sustainable
Tourism to Work
Honey, M., (2008). Chapter 3 in:
Ecotourism and Sustainable
Development.
October 1
Group Presentations I
October 3
Group Presentation II
October 8
Test #1
Ecotourism and “Positive” Development: Community Conservation
October 10
Community Impacts
October 15
Origins
Hulme & Murphree – Chapter 2 & 3
October 17
Protected Areas Outreach
Hulme & Murphree – Chapter 9
October 22
Co-management
Hulme & Murphree – Chapter 12
October 24
Devolution
Hulme & Murphree – Chapter 11
Sustainability Practices in the Ecotourism Industry
October 29
Biophilic Design
Kellert, S. Chapter 5 in Building for
Life.
October 31
Site Planning & Design
Online Reading
November 5
Inputs: Traditional
Materials, Vernacular
Design
Sloan et al – Chapter 6
November 7
Inputs: Energy
Sloan et al – Chapter 3
November 12
Inputs: Food Systems –
Sourcing and
Management
Sloan et al, Chapters 8 & 9
November 14
Outputs: Waste and
Water Management
Systems - Closed Loop
Systems
Sloan et al, Chapters 4 & 5
November 19
Outputs: Flora & Fauna
Impacts & Management
Online Reading
November 21
Green Marketing &
Socially Responsible
Enterprises
Sloan et al, Chapter 10 & 12
Community
Conservation
November 26 & 28 – No Class. Thanksgiving Break
December 3
December 12
Eco-Certification and
Ecotourism BMPs
Sloan et al, Chapter 14
Test 2 – Thursday, December 12, 7:30 a.m., 110 Aiken
December 10
Final Ecolodge Plan Due
Other Important Information:
Academic Support Programs (ASP); www.uvm.edu/~aspprogs. ASP includes ACCESS, the
Learning Cooperative, and TRIO/Student Support Services (SSS).
ACCESS: In keeping with University policy, any student with a disability who needs
academic/classroom accommodations should contact ACCESS. ACCESS coordinates
reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. They are located at A170
Living/Learning Center, and can be reached by phone at 802-656-7753, or by emailing
[email protected]. Visit their website at http://www.uvm.edu/access.
The Learning Co-op offers a variety of resources such as Supplemental Instruction, Writing
Center, subject-specific tutoring, etc. Whether you are excelling or having trouble with a class,
the Learning Co-op is a valuable resource.
ASP also includes TRIO, a spectrum of services for eligible first-generation or limited-income
students.
UVM Official Policy on Religious Holidays: Students have the right to practice the religion of
their choice. Each semester students should submit in writing to their instructors by the end of
the second full week of classes their documented religious holiday schedule for the semester.
Faculty must permit students who miss work for the purpose of religious observance to make up
this work.
UVM Academic Integrity Policy: Offenses against the Code of Academic Integrity are deemed
serious and insult the integrity of the entire academic community. Any suspected violations of the
code are taken very seriously and will be forwarded to the Center for Student Ethics & Standards
for further investigation.
Cutting-and-pasting from internet sources (without proper citation) is plagiarism. Instances of
this type of plagiarism are not hard to find, and I do check. So, here’s what I expect. The words
you turn in should be your own. If you use text from the internet in the body of your
assignment, it 1) must be enclosed in quotation marks, and 2) must be properly cited in your
document. Failure to do so will result in an “F” on the assignment, and in extreme cases can
mean an “F” for the course.
I encourage you to work together on assignments in this course. Working with others enables you
to consider a wider range of ideas that you may not have thought about by yourself. However,
with the exception of the group project, all assignments must be written in your own words.
Computers, tablets, and phones in the Classroom
I do not ban wireless devices from the classroom (yet!). However, I do offer a couple of
observations about computer use during class:
1) It’s your money. Each 75-minute class session costs about $47 for in-state students and about
$120 for out-of-state students. You must decide for yourself if access to Facebook, YouTube,
Ebay, or whatever during class is worth that kind of money to you.
2) Research in cognitive psychology shows that multi-tasking on high-effort mental tasks (like
learning) significantly lowers performance. As the use of wireless devices in the classroom has
exploded over the years, we have noticed a negative correlation between the use of these devices
and class performance. Test score distributions in classes typically show a normal curve.
Recently, test score distributions have skewed a bit toward the D and F range, and classroom use
of wireless devices tends to be the reason.
Learning to focus is a really important life-skill, and computers in the classroom don’t help.