How I relearned almost everything I thought I knew about tourism in one semester

Throughout my Fall 2015 semester I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the Tourism Poverty and Health class at NC State.  From meeting local microentrepreneurs in nearby communities to the in-depth discussions in class, I learned more from this class than from many others.  The material covered in this class had very important takeaways that not only provoked me to rethink much of my earlier knowledge, but also made me want to be an agent for change.

The class started with an introduction to the different types of tourism and the traits, good or bad, that went along with them.  Mass tourism continues to boom due to the ease of planning, low costs and lack of public knowledge about the detrimental effects it generates in destination communities. Next we were introduced to People-First Tourism to show that tourism can be sustainable, benefit the local economy and utilize local microentrepreneurs to provide fun, genuine, and enriching experiences to tourists [as seen in this TV news brief featuring our class]. 

The word “tourism” to locals carries many different meanings depending on where they live and where they currently stand in the IRRIDEX model (a model developed by Doxey explaining how and why locals gradually develop negative attitudes towards tourism and tourists).  In the beginning of tourism development, locals tend to have euphoria towards tourism and anticipate substantial income from the tourists.  But with the onset of large-scale tourism development they often realize that they live in an area that has been overrun with tourism and they become antagonistic, blaming tourists for the degradation on their community.  Tourism is always going to mean something different to locals and tourists as we all have different perceptions and desires but tourism professionals and community planners must make more conscious decisions to ensure that local communities are not being taken advantage of by the industry.  The best interest of the locals must be the primary goal of tourism development. 

While learning more about People-First Tourism we were introduced to Participatory Rural Appraisal Methods and learned how to use them to gather information from groups of community members. We discussed the benefits of utilizing the nominal group technique method and even carried it out in class to experience how it works. These techniques help ensure that all participants have a voice in a group setting which is especially needed where there are levels of hierarchy present.  I hope that gaining experience with these methods will help me latter make sure that in my work I can gather good input from a variety of stakeholders. 

Later in the semester we talked about different solutions to problems that arise from poverty stricken areas.  We discussed the merits of top-down vs. bottom up solutions to community, health, and environmental problems.  The problem with top-down approaches is the tendency to face bottlenecks; i.e., local elites capture aid, money and opportunities, and as a result little is left to the targeted people at the base of the local social pyramid. We examined several examples showing that starting at the grassroots and working your way up with microfinance and microentrepreneurship is a more effective way to create positive social change.

The class covered a wide variety of topics and current social issues that are relevant to the tourism industry and it involved us as students to think about how WE can change current practices and be more socially conscious in our future professional careers.  All these new ideas and experiences left me thinking about small ways in which I will use my profession to improve our world.

By: Lauren Kennedy

NC State Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management graduate Spring 2016