About This Course
Course Description
This course provides students with a broad understanding of the global Tourism sector and the latest trends in the travel industry. It focuses on the role of digital media, User Generated Content (UGC) and digital storytelling in travel and tourism.
The course offers a combination of theory, case studies and hands-on training, aimed at exploring new forms of travel communication through digital media.
Key topics
- Global trends in travel and tourism
- Travel Communication and Sustainability
- Travel Journalism and digital Travel Storytelling
- Digital Media Communication Campaigns for Tourism
- UGC and eWOM
Course Objectives
- Understand the role of digital media in travel and tourism.
- Track, analyze, and discuss UGC related to travel destinations.
- Recognize, understand, analyze, and discuss the travel article typology.
- Recognize the structure and narrating techniques of travel stories.
- Appreciate the role of travel journalism and travel UGC in communicating culture, in understanding and respecting the ‘Others’
Learning Outcomes
- Acquire knowledge about the current trends in travel and tourism.
- Analyze and produce online travel stories.
- Criticize how travel journalists, or travelers construct tourist experiences and destination images.
- Analyze and criticize digital media communication campaigns for tourism
Class/Learning activities
Mentoring lectures, group work, in-class presentation of case studies, literature study, experiential lab (hands on training)
Workload
| Type of work | Description | Hours |
| In class lectures, Presentations and hands on exercises | Thirteen 3-hours | 39 |
| Research | Online research | 50-60 |
| Independent study | Study of suggested literature | 40-45 |
| Project based group work | Small creative in class group tasks | 20-25 |
| Case study and report or Digital Media project |
Final project Students may choose: a. A case study ( Written report and presentation) b. A digital media project (according to personal interests) |
100-110 |
| Total workload | 249-279 |
Assessment
| Type of assessment | Learning outcome | Impact on final grade | Date of assessment |
| Participation in group work and discussion | 1-4 | 20% | Every week |
| Presentation of creative tasks and experiential exercises | 2-4 | 30% | 3th-12th week |
| Final Project | 2-4 | 40% | 9th-12th week |
| Presentation of the Final Project | 1-4 | 10% | 13th week |
Suggested Reading
- Akehurst, G. (2009). ‘User Generated Content: The Use of Blogs for Tourism Organisations and Tourism Consumers.’ Service Business 3:51–61.
- Cocking, B. (2009): ‘Travel Journalism’, Journalism Studies, Vol 10 (1), 54-68
- Dewdney, A. (2013). The digital media handbook. London: Routledge.
- Hanusch, F., Fürsich, E. (2014) Travel Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hsial, K., Lu, H.-P., & Lan, W.-C. (2013). The influence of the components of storytelling blogs on readers’ travel intentions. Internet Research, 23, 160–182.
- King, R. A., Pradeep R., and Bush, V. (2014). ‘What We Know and Don’t Know about Online Word-of-Mouth: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature.’ Journal of Interactive Marketing 28(3):167–83
- McGaurr, L. (2015). Environmental Communication and Travel Journalism. NY: Routledge.
- Urry, J. and Larsen, J. (2011) The Tourist Gaze 3.0. London: Sage.
- World Tourism Organization UNTWO (2014) International Tourism Exceeds Expectations with Arrivals Up by 52 Million in 2013. (Press Release, 20 January). Available at: http://media.unwto.org/press-release/2014-01-20/international-tourism-exceeds-expectations-arrivals-52-million-2013