Course Description This course provides students with a broad understanding of the global Tourism and Hospitality sector, the latest trends in the travel industry, and the role of storytelling in destination branding and digital marketing. It also focuses on the challenges, crises, and global issues that affect tourism in the post-pandemic era and explores the impact of storytelling on awareness raising and attitude change for responsible tourism and sustainable travel behavior. The course offers a combination of theory, case studies, assignments, hands-on activities, and group projects aiming at exploring new forms of travel communication through digital media. Course Objectives Understand the role of digital media in travel and tourism. Recognize, understand, analyze, and discuss the travel article typology. Recognize the structure and narrating techniques of travel stories. Gain knowledge about tools and techniques for mobile writing, editing, and publishing. Appreciate the role of travel journalism and travel User Generated Content (UGC) in communicating culture, understanding and respecting the ‘Others’, and promoting a sustainable and responsible travel lifestyle. Learning Outcomes Have knowledge of the latest trends and industry sectors in Tourism and Hospitality. Be able to produce online travel stories and audiovisual travel content. Have the knowledge and develop skills for strategic storytelling in the tourism and hospitality sector. Class/Learning activities In-class presentations- workshops, discussions, case studies, literature study, assignments, final project. Workload Type of work Description Hours In-class activities, lectures/presentations and experiential tasks Thirteen 3-hours 39 Research and literature review for discussion topics Online research and preparation for discussions 30 Independent study Study of the suggested literature 40-45 Project based group work Small creative in class group tasks 20-25 Digital Media storytelling project Final project hands on 100-110 Total workload 229-249 Assessment Type of assessment Learning outcome Impact on final grade Date of assessment Participation in discussion topics 1,3 10% Weekly Presentation of creative tasks and experiential exercises 1,2,3 20% 3th-12th week Written assignment 1,3 20% 8th-9th week Final Project 1,2,3 40% 9th-12th week Presentation of the Final Project 1,2,3 10% 13th week Suggested Reading Buhalis, D. (Eds.). (2022). Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Fürsich, E. (2002). How can global journalists represent the ‘other’? A critical assessment of the cultural studies concept for media practice’ Journalism, 3(1), 57–84. Fürsich, E., & Kavoori, A. P. (2001). Mapping a critical framework for the study of travel journalism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 149–171. Hay, N. A., Chien, P. M., & Ruhanen, L. (2022). Tell me your story: Branding destinations through residents’ (place) stories. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 28(3), 319–334 Hanusch, F., Fürsich, E. (2014) Travel Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan. Hartman, S., Parra, C. Roo, G. (2019) Framing strategic storytelling in the context of transition management to stimulate tourism destination development, Tourism Management, 75 (1), 90-98. Youssef,K.B., Leicht, T., Marongiu, L. (2019) Storytelling in the context of destination marketing: an analysis of conceptualisations and impact measurement, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 27:8, 696-7 Mansfield, C. (2017). ‘Travel writing in place branding–a case study on Nantes’, Journal of Tourism. Heritage & Services Marketing, 3(2), 1–7. McGaurr, L. (2015). Environmental Communication and Travel Journalism. NY: Routledge. Pan, B., MacLaurin, T., & Crotts, J. C. (2007). Travel blogs and the implications for destination marketing. Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 35–45. Pera, R. (2017) Empowering the new traveller: storytelling as a co-creative behaviour in tourism, Current Issues in Tourism, 20:4, 331-338 Tran, N. L., & Rudolf, W. (2022). Social Media and Destination Branding in Tourism: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Sustainability, 14(20) Urry, J. and Larsen, J. (2011) The Tourist Gaze 3.0. London: Sage.