Environment General Courses (ENVIRON)

taught in Beaufort

256S.01. Seminar in Ocean Sciences: Marine Tourism. Tourism in general, and certainly marine tourism as a component of that, is one of the fastest growing global industries.  As such, its reach extends to all parts of the world, with notable impacts on both natural systems and human societies.  Studying tourism allows us to make concrete linkages between environment and society, particularly in the case of marine tourism.  Marine tourism provides an important vantage point from which to study how the relationship between human activities that are based on land (e.g. coastal development and tourist attractions) can have important consequences for marine environments.  However, it also allows us to examine the connections between the local and the global, where tourist projects and ideas that originate in one part of the world find their "home" in more remote locations that can have significant impacts-socially, culturally, and economically- on coastal communities that reside in those settings.  Additionally, marine tourism faces unique challenges related to natural hazards (e.g. tsunamis, hurricanes), and emerging concerns such as climate change.  This course provides an introduction to marine tourism topics situated within these broader themes by focusing on the diversity of actors, impacts and management options within each topic.  This course also involves the rethinking and critical evaluation of key concepts related to marine tourism issues such as: "sustainability", "ecotourism", "community" and "participation."   Case studies provide the basis for this course as a way to effectively illustrate specific examples of marine tourism topics while also situating them within a broader framework. Prerequisites: None. Instructor: Haalboom. 0.5 course or 2 units.