GEOG 324 Geography of Global Tourism

This course investigates global tourism from a geographic perspective. An interdisciplinary approach informed by the social and natural sciences allows students from a wide variety of disciplines to participate in the study of place, function and image of ecotourism resources, activities and impacts at local and global scales of analysis.
 
Lectures, readings and guest speakers provide public and private stakeholder perspectives that connect theoretical knowledge and practice in various geographic locations and cultural landscapes (marine and terrestrial, island and continental, indigenous and colonized).  Class discussions identify themes and concepts from the academic literature to investigate a variety of case studies, including East Maui, Windward Oahu, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Okinawa, South Island of New Zealand, and the mountain west of North America, among other sites determined by student interests.  Individual and small group research projects encourage the independent and collaborative analysis of ecotourism markets, profiles of operators and participants, destinations and adjacent gateway communities, and protected areas of biological and cultural significance.

Textbooks: Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice (Honey 2002)
The Clouded Leopard: A Book of Travels (Davis 2007)
The World’s Protected Areas: Status, Values and Prospects in the 21st Century (2008)
Academic journal articles provided or available online through UHM Library.


Instructor: John Cusick, Ph.D.  jcusick@hawaii.edu
Office: Environmental Center, Krauss Annex 19, 956-7362
Dr. Cusick coordinates the UHM Environmental Studies program and is a UHM Geography Department graduate