Course Outline
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course students should have the skills needed to:
- Know the notions related to the developmental process (growth, development, etc)
- Understand the socio-economic changes caused by tourism activities at a local level,
- Interpret, in a systematic and scientifically substantiated way, the tourism impacts in the development reality at national and regional level, based on international trends at a theoretical and empirical level
- Know the basic planning framework of the Greek tourism policy
- Critically analyse planning and policymaking outcomes in different situations
- Participate in project teams regarding the preparation of regional and local development studies, emphasizing in tourism development
Especially the research of case studies (through the written essays) from various Greek and European places, enable students to fruitfully apply the theoretical concepts in real world situations, to synthesise the derived conclusions from a managerial perspective and to propose a number of meaningful initiatives in regional and local development and policymaking.
General Competencies
- Search for, analysis and synthesis of data and information, with the use of the necessary technology
- Working independently
- Team work
- Working in an international environment
- Working in an interdisciplinary environment
- Project planning and management
- Respect for the natural environment
- Criticism and self-criticism
- Production of free, creative and inductive thinking
Syllabus
In this specific course, the functional and empirical interconnection of tourism, as a modern economic and social activity, with regional and local development is carried out.
In this context, an analysis of the importance of tourism in the economy, in the recent development environment and in the new conditions of the world economy, is initially made. The basic theoretical approaches, the different categories of effects caused by tourism and the potential negative effects that modern economies are called to face, are outlined.
Then, the dominant spatial patterns and development strategies (the pattern of concentration-diffusion and the pattern of integrated-local-endogenous development), are presented, with reference to specific case studies (case studies) of areas which promote regional and local development plans with an emphasis on tourism, according to the European and Greek experience. The analysis focuses on the importance of tourism in diversifying local economies, retaining the population, boosting employment and improving quality of life.
This is followed by the presentation of the basic methods of investigating the economic effects of tourism at the various scales of space (national, regional, local), with relevant empirical applications.
Finally, the tourism planning at national, regional and local level is outlined.