Inhalte

Heritage places often have a love-hate relationship with tourism. As one of the fastest-growing sectors worldwide, tourism constitutes an important catalyst for development in many regions, generating benefits that extend far beyond the economic sphere. At the same time, it remains one of the most significant threats to heritage sites, often leading to irreversible losses and profound transformations within local communities. Identifying economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socio-culturally sensitive approaches to tourism development therefore represents one of the key challenges for heritage managers today. As an overarching theme, the course invites students to reflect on the relationship between heritage tourism and contemporary issues of global concern (e.g. human rights, film and media, special interest tourism, ethical consumer behaviour), while also examining the broader societal implications of tourism and heritage management. Ultimately, the course encourages students to become both more reflective travellers and more reflective professionals in the fields of heritage and tourism.

Lernziele

By the end of this course, students will be able to: - explain key concepts in tourism and heritage studies; - analyse tourism- and visitor-related phenomena in different heritage contexts; - evaluate heritage and tourism management issues from different disciplinary perspectives; - identify the main components of the tourism system; - analyse processes of destination planning and management; - critically assess different narratives of heritage destinations and the tools used for their marketing and branding; - evaluate the positive and negative impacts of visitors on heritage sites and identify basic approaches to visitor management; - explain the concept of sustainability in heritage tourism and assess examples of good practice in sustainable tourism and visitor management; - develop and justify original tourism management solutions for heritage destinations; - critically reflect on the relationship between heritage tourism and contemporary societal challenges of global significance.

Prüfungsleistung

Critical analysis paper. Students are required to submit an academic paper of 3,000–4,000 words on a topic related to the seminar. More specific guidelines on the assignments and information on the evaluation criteria will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Literatur (1)

A full list of recommended readings will be provided on Moodle at the beginning of the course.

Bemerkungen

This module will be taught online during the winter semester 2026/27. More information and regular updates will be posted in the course entry on Moodle. In the event that the module cannot be taught or tested according to the present description (e.g. for reasons of infection protection), the alternatives communicated on relevant platforms (e.g. homepage or Moodle) apply.

Module

Principles of Tourism and Visitor Management

Inhalte

Lernziele

Prüfungsleistung

Bemerkungen