PP 240M

It is often remarked that travel broadens the mind: “I didn’t go to university; I went travelling instead.” It is certainly true that tourism can be a means of creating a virtuous character—if one does it in a meaningful way. Travel can build character and transform the traveler. Students will choose a travel memoir, or novel, and write an essay on how it illustrates virtuous travel, or not! However, it is also true that the choices an individual tourist makes can have a negative impact on others. The actions of individual tourists may contribute to systems of injustice; environmental degradation; inauthenticity; commodification of culture; and disruptive cultural change. Drawing upon a variety of important philosophical traditions, we will attempt to develop a perspective on ethical values in a tourism context. The integration of philosophical theory with actual tourism practices is facilitated by our use of a textbook which explains key terms in ethics, politics, and tourism development by using contemporary case studies from around the world.