Cases in Sustainable Tourism: An Experiential Approach to Making Decisions

Make sure your students are prepared for the difficult decisions they’ll face every day in the tourism industry

Cases in Sustainable Tourism is a groundbreaking teaching tool that places students in real-life situations where they’re faced with complex decisions on the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of actual cases from the tourism and hospitality industry. Cases are based on actual organizations or activities and accompanied by resource guides, illustrations, exhibits, multi-media materials, and photographs to help students make difficult but realistic decisions about traveling responsibilities (accommodations and airlines), adventure tourism, the sustainability of national parks, and land development and governance. This unique casebook includes an extensive Instructor’s Manual with additional teaching materials on an accompanying CD.

Each of the 15 cases is based on a real-life incident and flexible enough to present students with a variety of challenges that organizations face. Scenarios range from the state of the whale-watching industry in the Pacific Northwest to the conflict that arises when a banana plantation owner wants to expand onto land adjacent to a national park in Costa Rica to how a backwoods lodge in the Canadian Rockies addresses its responsibility to the environment. And with a little imagination, all 15 cases can be applied to local situations or organizations and embellished with field trips, newspaper articles, and local speakers to turn a classroom project into a real-life experience. Cases were written from a management perspective but are easily adapted for use with graduate and undergraduate courses in business management, environmental design, environmental science, geography, and planning.

Cases in Sustainable Tourism examines:

• the environmental performance of the hotel industry
  
• ecolodges
  
• the changing missions of national parks
  
• environmental concerns surrounding ski resorts
  
• the CAMPFIRE program in Africa
  
• the degradation of coral reefs
  
• clean beaches
  
• sustainable activities for the Amazon region in Brazil
  
• stakeholder involvement in national parks
  
• ecotourism
  
• and much more

Cases in Sustainable Tourism will prepare your students to become problem solvers when faced with real-life decisions in the hospitality and tourism industry. The book is equally valuable as a training tool for professional development programs offered by corporations, professional associations, and park personnel.

• About the Editor
  
• Contributors
  
• Acknowledgments
  
• Part I: Introduction to Cases and Environmental Thought Leaders
  
• Chapter 1. Overview of Cases and Their Use in Experiential Learning (Ron Murch and Irene M. Herremans)
  
• Experiences
  
• Meet the Cases
  
• Overview of Cases
  
• Chapter 2. UNESCO: World Heritage Convention and Man and the Biosphere Programs (Fergus T. Maclaren)
  
• Introduction
  
• World Heritage Convention
  
• Man and the Biosphere
  
• Conclusion
  
• Appendix: World Heritage Sites
  
• Part II: Traveling Responsibly
  
• Chapter 3. Implementing Ecosystem Management: Mount Assiniboine Lodge, Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, British Columbia (Fergus T. Maclaren)
  
• Introduction
  
• Learning About the Lodge
  
• Chapter 4. Flying High: The Airlines and the Environment—Freedom Airlines, Inc. (Irene M. Herremans)
  
• Identifying the Problem
  
• Finding Solutions
  
• Chapter 5. The Greening of the Fairmont Palliser (Robin E. Reid)
  
• International Green Initiatives
  
• Fairmont/CP Hotels & Resorts
  
• History of Phase One of the CP Green Program
  
• Conclusion to Phase One
  
• The Beginning of Phase Two
  
• Part III: Sustainable Nature-Based and Adventure Tourism Activities
  
• Chapter 6. The State of the Pacific Northwest Whale Watching Industry, 1999 (Neil Symington)
  
• Introduction
  
• The Pacific Coast
  
• Whale Watching in the Pacific Northwest
  
• Issues
  
• The Future
  
• Appendix 1: Stakeholders of Whale Watching Operators Northwest
  
• Appendix 2: Public Perception
  
• Chapter 7. Treadsoftly An Environmental Education Company Inc.—The Environment and the Business of Backcountry Tours, Part 1: Understanding Stakeholder Issues (Cameron Welsh)
  
• The Idea
  
• Background Investigations
  
• Conclusion
  
• Appendix: Corporate Structure
  
• Chapter 8. Treadsoftly An Environmental Education Company Inc.—The Environment and the Business of Backcountry Tours, Part 2: Creating Environmental Controls (Cameron Welsh and Robin E. Reid)
  
• Beginnings of Environmental Management
  
• Adopting Values and Ethics
  
• The Company
  
• The Approach
  
• The Strategic Plan
  
• EMS
  
• Summary
  
• Chapter 9. Canadian Mountain Holidays: Risk Assessment and Management (Fergus T. Maclaren)
  
• Chapter 10. Ski Resorts: Enjoyment versus Environmental Responsibility—Does There Have to Be a Choice? (Simon Hudson)
  
• Introduction
  
• Reactions to the Environmental Impacts of Skiing
  
• Key Stakeholders
  
• The Greening of Ski Resorts
  
• The Decision
  
• Appendix: 2003-2004 Ski Area Environmental Scorecard
  
• Chapter 11. Vacations by the Sea: Troubled Waters (Agnieszka M. Wojcieszek and Irene M. Herremans)
  
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  
• ReefKeeper International
  
• International Year of the Reef, 1997
  
• International Coral Reef Initiative
  
• Part IV: Wrestling with the Sustainability of National Parks
  
• Chapter 12. Yosemite National Park: Parks Without Private Vehicles (Irene M. Herremans and Robin E. Reid)
  
• Introduction
  
• Yosemite National Park
  
• Appendix: Park Visitation Statistics
  
• Chapter 13. Grand Canyon National Park: Tourists by Land, Tourists by Air (Irene M. Herremans)
  
• Tourists by Land
  
• Grand Canyon National Park
  
• Tourists by Air
  
• Two by Land, Four by Air
  
• Chapter 14. Addressing Tourism Conflicts in Banff National Park: The Banff Bow Valley Round Table Process (Marcus Eyre and Tazim B. Jamal)
  
• Context: Banff National Park’s Turbulent History
  
• The Banff Bow Valley Study and Round