This page is currently under development. The visitor industry is predicted to become the biggest single industry in the world by the early years of the twenty-first century. In Britain, the visitor industry represents a critically important economic sector at national, regional, and local scales. This public debate is being conducted against the background of a long-term rise in awareness of environment and development issues, crystallised in the early 1990s around the Rio Earth Summit.
Sustainability is now a key consideration for all forms of development in the future.
While tourism remains an industry experiencing rapid change, it will require graduates who can work with environmentalists to improve the performance of the industry to help it develop to react to changing markets and issues. The proposed degree programme has emerged from a recognition of the changing nature of tourism and leisure, and thus the visitor. The Sunderland BSc aims to educate and train learners in the social, economic and environmental aspects of tourism development within developed and developing world contexts, providing education and training for careers in tourism and related activities. The degree has been developed in collaboration with the Sunderland Business School to provide background knowledge of the needs of the business world, and also with representatives from the industry. The degree integrates key elements of business studies into a programme that emphasises the social scientific and environmental dimensions of tourism development.