All tourists are dear to Hermes, the god of travel, who is patron of aimiable curiosity and freedom of mind. This course explores the growth and impacts of tourism both domestically and internationally. Tourism is among the largest and fastest growing industries globally. Cities and regions in the U.S. and Europe, and well as many developing countries, are increasingly turning to tourism as a route to economic growth. Tourism has obvious economic, social and political benefits earning, as it does, precious foreign exchange and international contacts.
Travel can be enlightening and entertaining.
But international tourism in particular, also has costs, especially for the destination country. This course will encourage you to travel in your mind and perhaps foster some of the qualities which Santayana attributes to travel. We will pay particular attention to questions of social justice and ethics concerning the tourist industry. Everyone should look through back issues in the library of The Annals of Tourism Research , an excellent source for writing assignments. The syllabus lists suggested reading for each topic.