Tourism learners hear message of sustainability firsthand

Bon voyage to unsustainable tourism!

That was the concise, clear and encouraging message 17 learners in two RRU tourism programs heard recently when they boarded the Celebrity cruise ship Mercury for an interactive learning experience that combined a behind-the-scenes tour and a two-hour in-depth presentation on sustainability.

On campus for the residency portion of either their Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Tourism program or Masters of Arts in Tourism Management program, the learners were accompanied by faculty members Dr. Nancy Arsenault, dean of the faculty of tourism and hotel management, Dr. Brian White, the school’s director, instructor Geoffrey Bird and program associate Amanda Malkiewich.

“An invitation from the cruise industry such as this is a fantastic and rare opportunity," says Arsenault. "It was made possible thanks to our new, exciting and successful collaboration with the NorthWest CruiseShip Association and Celebrity Cruises.
 
Arsenault adds that there is a great deal of misinformation and negative public perception about the cruise industry.

"The sector champions so many leading-edge, sustainability-related projects to do with ship design, for example, and staff training activities. Its commitment to, and investment in, protecting the environment could put some land-based organizations - who do not walk the talk - to shame," she says.

John Hansen, president of the NorthWest CruiseShip Association and the Celebrity Mercury’s environmental officer, outlined for learners the ways in which the cruise ship industry is demonstrating its commitment to environmental stewardship. It is, he says, establishing guidelines for training to meet global environmental regulations and embracing leading edge technologies that are making it possible to set realistic goals and measure progress. The industry is also, he says, committed to educating the public about its sustainability initiatives.

Hansen then described a specific initiative introduced by the cruise industry to improve sustainable tourism and the environment as a whole.

“Our Save the Waves program, for example, focuses on three key principles: reducing the creation or generation of waste materials; recycling as much as possible; and ensuring proper disposal of remaining waste.”

The message of sustainable tourism for Celebrity Cruises was reiterated by Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. He also put its importance in perspective.

“This company – and the cruise industry as a whole – has an extremely strong self-interest in preserving the world’s oceans,” says Fain. “We derive our livelihoods from the seas and if we don’t protect them, we most assuredly will lose our jobs, our ways of life and our very quality of life. We are not about to take that chance.”

The invitation-only environmental education experience on board the cruise ship docked in Victoria was only one in a remarkable series of carefully designed face-to-face learning opportunities that made up a key component of the sustainable tourism program’s fall residency. The goal of each was to provide concrete examples of sustainability in the industry and to familiarize learners with different tourism destinations.

Other field trips included a chance to chat with Scott Hoadley at the Inn at Laurel Point; John Willow at the B.C. Ministry of Tourism; Jeremy Hewitt at the office of the Climate Action Secretariat; Brandon Willliams at Harbour Air; and Detleft Beck of Van City regarding his work with Dockside Green. In-class visitors included Deirdre Campbell of Tartan Communications, Craig Murray from Nimmo Bay Resort with guest lectures by RRU faculty Dr. Brian White, Dr. Charles Krusekopf, Dr. Rick Kool, Dr. Nancy Arsenault, Dr. Steve Grundy and Dr. Audrey Dallimore not to mention visiting lecturers Kevin Smith of Maple Leaf Adventures; Kathleen Sheppard and Deborah Hudson of The Land Conservancy; Valerie Sheppard and Ray Leblond of the Ministry of Tourism, Ian Powell of the Inn at Laurel Point ; and Rick Lemon, now retired from the Ministry of Tourism and a member of RRU president Dr. Allan Cahoon's ad-hoc committee on tourism.

“We spent the first part of the residency looking at theory and conceptual models of sustainable tourism then moved to implementation strategies by seeing superb examples firsthand,” says instructor Geoffrey Bird . “Learners were then given time to work on individual assignments that demonstrated their own ideas for direct application of the theories and conceptual models.”

Application is key because learners in RRU’s tourism programs are already in the industry. Current students in the MA in Tourism Management, for example, come from tourism departments and associations as near as Victoria and Nanaimo and as distant as Labrador and Yukon.

“They’re dealing with sustainability issues right now so it’s imperative that what we present in the classroom is as relevant and cutting edge as possible,” says Bird.

According to Bird, their challenge is two-fold.

“Professionals in the tourism industry have a role to play in educating people about the impacts of travel on the environment plus must take responsibility for mitigating negative impacts."

No small task but personal and professional networks that people like April Moi, Amber Crofts, Jennifer Ford, Connor Lamb and Denny Kobayashi were able to develop during the course of their residency and the number of ways in which they interfaced with local tourism businesses and community tourism operations will go a long way toward making a difference.

The next graduate certificate and degree module of the MA in Tourism Management launches this month and is focused on Tourism Leadership.