International cooperation and Tourism

During the last decades the world of international cooperation had been interested in sectors such as health, education and environment and had not focused due attention on the tourism sector. However, from the early 2000 this situation has changed considerably, and tourism has begun to figure prominently on the agenda of international development cooperation.

Documentary ‘The Voluntourist’: Is voluntourism doing more harm than good?

tourism as a tool for international cooperation

The course “International Cooperation and Tourism” – organized by Dr. Claudio Milano and Dr. Enrico Porfido at ostelea – Tourism Management School of Barcelona-, aims to provide the tools for a critical analysis of the value that tourism has as a tool for international cooperation. It analyzes the challenges and the actors involved in international development cooperation in tourism. Similarly, it will be examined the geopolitical and socio-economic elements involved in tourism cooperation projects and international mobility and the role of donors, local actors and the development of tourism cooperation projects managed by development agencies as a tool to eradicate poverty.

The aim is to provide the tools for a capacity of analysis of the approaches and instruments of cooperation in tourism as the Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT), the Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty (STEP) and volunteering, which have characterized the planning international cooperation projects in tourism sector over the last two decades. In addition, the course will provide the technical tools for analyzing existing projects and evaluating their impact on territories and local communities.