The main focus of the module is on developing an understanding of leading and emerging issues in tourism management research. It will encourage critical debate from a range of contemporary perspectives and is designed to allow students to consider new tourism concepts and contexts from a regional, national and international perspective.

Specific issues will be drawn from the following:-
- The changing nature of tourism demand and forecast of future developments
- An investigation into the development of destinations, destination management and the sustainable nature of both organisations and destinations
- An analysis of emerging themes in tourism such as the ethical challenges of risk-tourism, e.g. adventure, dark and sex tourism.
-Tourism mobilities and tourist's background, exploring the impact of demographic variables such as age and disability and how the tourist's background, e.g. social class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, shapes the tourism experience.

The Library
Module Website
Internet
MINTEL Reports

Boniface, P. (2001) Dynamic Tourism: Journeying with Change. Clevedon, Avon: Channel View Publications.
Hall, D.R. & Brown, F. (2006) Tourism and Welfare: Ethics, responsibility and sustained well-being. Wallingford: CABI.
Meethan, K. (2001) Tourism in Global Society: Place, culture, consumption. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mowforth, M. & Munt, I. (2009) Tourism and Sustainability: development, globalisation and new tourism in the Third World, 3rd Edition. London: Routledge.
Novelli, M. (2005) Niche Tourism: Contemporary issues, trends and cases. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
Robinson, P., Heitmann, S. & Dieke, P.U.C.(Eds) (2011) Research Themes for Tourism. Wallingford: CABI.
Sharpley, R. (2008) Tourism, Tourists and Society. 4th Edition. Huntingdon: Elm Publications.
Shaw, G. & Williams, A.M. (2002) Critical Issues in Tourism: A Geographical Perspective, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

A GROUP DEBATE weighted at 60% (25 minutes including time for questioning).
An INDIVIDUAL DEBATE PAPER weighted at 40% (2,000 words).

Details: Each student will be required to participate as a member of a group in a debate. In each debate session, one group will make a short presentation in favour of a proposition and the second group will make a presentation against that proposition. This will then be followed by a structured debate of the main issues raised by the proposition and presentations and will be concluded with closing statements from each team. The individual debate paper will present a comprehensive outline of the proposition and provide a full justification for the arguments presented in the debate.
Both assessment tasks will assess all Learning Outcomes.

The learning strategy for this module is based around students committing a total of 150 hours of activities towards achieving the learning outcomes. These will be split between 39 hours of direct contact with a tutor and 111 hours of directed, guided and self-study, together with preparation for and completion of the assessment tasks. Learning support material will be provided for the module.
The module will draw upon a mixture of activities including lectures, web-based activities, case study analysis, relevant videos and in-class discussions, individual and group problem solving and self-directed learning.