Sustainability: What Matters to Students, Educators, and Hospitality and Tourism Professionals?

As climate change gains global attention from events like the summit in Copenhagen held during December of 2009, the need for sustainable tourism is more important than ever; with comprehensive education in sustainability concepts and practices essential, and methods for networking to share information critical. Specifically, sustainability focuses on the triple bottom line of equity, economics, and environment; or people, products, and the planet (Dhiman, 2008); or education, environment, and economics (personal communication with Carrie Blaskowski, Jackson County Green Energy Park, January 12, 2010). All of these relate to sustainable tourism, which can be defined as “an alternative form of tourism that improves or, at the minimum, maintains the quality of experiences for the visitors, life of host communities, and the environment [indefinitely] on which both the host community and the visitor depend.” (McIntyre, 1993, p. 11; Sirakaya-Turk, Ekinci, & Kaya, 2008, p. 414; Tosun, 1998, p. 596).