The role of the tertiary education sector in sustainable tourism and community development

Professor Greg Hill, Vice-Chancellor and President Wednesday, 17 September 2014

• 32 universities offer a total of 52 different Bachelor Degrees in tourism/tourism-associated programs.

• 60 TAFE institutes and hundreds of private RTOs offer certificate and diploma courses in tourism and hospitality.

USC has 31 undergraduate programs with tourism options/electives: • University/TAFE collaborative programs

• Diploma/Bachelor combined degrees

• Double Major and Minor combined degrees

• Work integrated learning

• Working with industry

• Teaching guided by research

• National/international partnerships

Cambodia – Coastal planning, CBT

sustainability assessment, capacity building, education.

Vietnam – Biosphere Reserve planning,

climate change adaptation.

Indonesia – Small island tourism

management, reef check.

Fiji – multidisciplinary expeditions.

New Caledonia – Marine park management.

• Community based tourism (ASEAN)

• Tourism and street kids (Siem Reap,

Cambodia)

• Sustainable development in the coastal zone (Thailand, Cambodia

Vietnam)

• Governance in the coastal zone

(Cambodia, Vietnam)

• Sun bear conservation and presentation (Cambodia, Malaysia)

• High school teacher needs (Cambodia)

Quality service delivery

National-regional: international marketing, visas,

ticketing, transportation, etc.

Local-business: hospitality, food & beverage,

house-keeping, business management, HRM, accounting, etc.

Strategic planning and management

Managing tourist-resource interactions:

natural and cultural resource management, interpretation, events, etc.

Developing sustainable products: community

engagement, design, sustainable technologies, etc.

Research: impact, satisfaction, monitoring &

evaluation, etc.

Tourism depends on healthy environments and communities, and services from other sectors.

Tourism professionals need skills to engage and plan with government, NGOs, the private sector and communities.

Key areas: health, water supply and

sewage, transportation, education, infrastructure planning, recreation and protected areas, cultural heritage, fisheries, agriculture, telecommunications, etc.

Cross-training is essential!

In Australia, CBT is largely limited to Indigenous communities interpreting their heritage.

Community tourism, where communities work together to support tourism for the greater economic good, is more common.

Ultimately, this needs to be fostered in the Asia-Pacific.

teaching learning research

But what is the focus?

Tourism product development?

Resource protection and utilisation?

Community development and poverty alleviation?

Integrating and transitioning to sustainable livelihoods?

Community and environmental health?

All are needed but priorities will vary for each nation and each community?

The tertiary education sector’s role is to prepare

professionals (tourism or otherwise):

• with sufficient knowledge to address (tourism) issues relevant to each nation;

• who can work with different communities and industry sectors;

• who can research issues of concern to inform decision-making.

• Build capacity in multiple-sectors and at multiple governance levels to respond to the challenge.

• Train the trainer: local knowledge is essential for effective transmittal of ideas to local communities.

• Support local tertiary level capacity building so they can train future trainers and inform existing trainers responsible for helping communities develop tourism products.

The problem remains that

tourism is still seen as a private sector issue (including by governments and universities), when it is a community issue:

• how communities interact with tourists, the tourism sector, and other sectors on which tourism success depends;

• how communities, with tourism, interact with heritage resources;

• how communities can transition livelihoods to benefit from tourism.

• Largest tourism research organisation in the world

• Universities, state government agencies, local government, industry, Tourism Australia

• Reports, information, tools, products, education and training – to improve business practices, skilled workforce, problem solving, guide policy