78366 - European Cultural Routes and Tourism Systems

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Moduli: Chiara Rabbiosi (Modulo 1) Alessia Mariotti (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Rimini
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Economics of Tourism (cod. 8847)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module students shall be familiar with the concepts of both local development and cultural tourism with a focus on cultural routes as a tool for local development. The course will also provide students with the definition of creative industries, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, tourism clusters and local systems of tourism supply. The international charts and conventions (UNESCO, ICOMOS, CoE, etc.) concerning tourism and cultural heritage as well as the cultural values underpinning them (Outstanding Universal Value/OUV, European Shared Identity) will allow students to deal with territorial/local and regional labels for tourism promotion. Particular attention will be paid to the capability of students in analyzing cultural tourism based products and in designing projects aiming at local development in a transnational perspective.

Course contents

This is a joint course given by Chiara Rabbiosi and Alessia Mariotti and is based on a mix of traditional lectures and learning activities.

First part (Chiara Rabbiosi - 30 hrs)


During the meetings, the following themes will be presented and discussed:

Basic concepts in human geography – place, space, territory; geographical imaginary; borders; scales; local community; globalization
Basic concepts in tourism studies – tourism; tourist; tourist destination; mass tourism, cultural tourism, experience tourism, sustainable tourism
Tourism & the environment – the economic, the socio-cultural, and the political perspectives
Methodology, methods (explanation vs. interpretation; deductive vs. deductive; quantitative vs. qualitative; fundamental research vs. applied research)
Consumer studies in tourism – methods and controversies
Future trends in tourism geography (mobility, performances, creativity; creative methods)
Critical geography and tourism (gender, justice, post-colonialism)

Second part (Alessia Mariotti - 15 hours)

Cultural tourism – definition and dimensions
Tourism systems – definition and analytical tools
Connecting culture and tourism - The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Program Part 1: description, dynamics and dimensions
Connecting culture and tourism - The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Program Part 2: planning tools, communication and territorial marketing

Readings/Bibliography

A variety of papers from human geography and tourism studies international journals (Progress in Human Geography, Social & Cultural Geography, Regional Studies, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Studies, Cities, Mobilities, etc.) will be used to support the learning activities. They will be directly handed out during the meetings by the teachers.


In addition, the following books are suggested as readers to integrate the handed out teaching materials:

Agnew, J. A. & Duncan, J. S. (2011), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Human Geography. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Barnes, T. J. & Cristophers, B. (2017), Economic geography: A critical introduction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Boniface, B. G., & Cooper, C. (2005) World Destinations: The geography of travel and Tourism. Oxford: Elsevier Butterwoth.

Cresswell, T. (2013) Geographic thought: A critical introduction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Hall C. M. & Page S. (2014) The geography of tourism and recreation: environment, place, and space. 3.ed.: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge.

Fair, L. S. (2015) An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism: Velvet Nelson Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.

Lew, A.A., Hall, C.M., Williams, A.M. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell companion to tourism. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Russo A. P., Richards G. (Eds.) (2016). Reinventing the local in tourism: Producing, consuming and negotiating place, Channel View Publications, BuffaloWilson, J. (2012) The Routledge handbook of tourism geographies. London: Routledge.

Wilson, J. & Clavé, S. A., (Eds.). (2013) Geographies of Tourism: European Research Perspectives: European Research Perspectives (Vol. 19). UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

With reference to Mariotti’s module, please acknowledge the following:

Berti E., Penelope D., Mariotti A. (eds) (2015), Cultural Routes management from Theory to Pratice. Step by Step guide to the Council of Europe Cultural Routes, Strasbourg, Council of Europe Publishing (also in French). ISBN 978-92-871-7691-2
--> Please read carefully: 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.4
--> Please study the following: 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7

Mariotti, (2013), “Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management: tools, tips and “good to know” for students and practitioners”, in S. Santoro (eds) Skills and tools to the Cultural Heritage and Cultural Tourism Management, Ed. D’Errico, www.chtmbal.com/publications (ISBN: 978-88-97017-06-6).

Robinson M. e Picard D., Tourism, culture and sustainable development, UNESCO, 2006. (DOC n° CLT/CPD/CAD - 06/13)

Teaching methods

The course will be divided into two conceptual parts.

The first part (30hrs) will be used for making the students comfortable with concepts, issues, approaches and methods of human geography and tourism studies, while in the second part of the course (15 hrs), the focus will be on cultural tourism, European Cultural Routes and their relationship with local sustainable development.

A different set of learning activities, including fieldwork, will be intertwined with traditional lectures in both parts of the course. In particular, students will be engaged in reading groups, self-reflective analysis and project-based exercises.

The fieldwork could include a visit to a tourist destination and the meeting with the stakeholders.

International researchers and professionals will be invited during the meetings to present their expertise, allowing students to acquire new perspectives.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the class is two-fold:

An on-going evaluation will take place during the course based on the students’ active participation at the activities proposed by the teachers (reading groups, self-reflective analysis and project-based exercises). The marks for this part of the evaluation will then used to ponder the final mark of the course.

Students will also have to pass a written test, organized in three open questions. To pass the written exam, the student should demonstrate on one side to have reached the learning outcomes and on the other to be able to use the concepts learnt during the course, applying them to the analysis of the relationships between tourism and local territorial systems.
Out of topic answers will not be evaluated. To pass the exam the student has to answer to all the questions.
During the exam, the students are allowed to have on them only stationary and an identity card or document. Paper will be distributed by the teacher. The questions will be simultaneously given at the beginning of the exam (if necessary through a PPT). In the first five minutes students not feeling able to give proper answers to the questions are allowed to leave the exam.
Each answer will be evaluated in 30 points.

Registration for the exam is compulsory, and students have to register through AlmaEsami [https://almaesami.unibo.it/almaesami/welcome.htm] according to the general rules of the School of Economics, Management and Statistics.

Teaching tools

A reference list will be distributed at the beginning of the course in order to foster the scientific debate among the students.

Open Educational Resources, Massive Open Online Courses and Cooperative Platforms might be suggested to support teachings, to involve students in active learning, and to manage project-work.

Office hours

See the website of Alessia Mariotti

See the website of Chiara Rabbiosi