Dr. Caroline Scarles speaks at Latest Trends
As part of our ongoing Latest Trends series, MU invited Dr. Caroline Scarles of the University of Surrey to discuss her research on an increasingly important topic - Sustainable Tourism.
Dr. Scarles presentation ‘Changing Consumer Attitudes Towards Sustainable Tourism’ touched on such points as the rise of ethical consumerism and ways to encourage domestic and eco-friendly holidays as well as barriers to sustainable tourism and consumer complacency. Her lecture posed questions including ‘are attitudes towards tourism and the environment changing’, and visualized possible future scenarios for trends in travel.
Her research seeks to find out public understanding of sustainable tourism, with an emphasis on ethics, materiality, and consumption. Assembling focus groups from various socio-economic and geographic spheres in the UK, she questioned them along the lines of their holiday habits and aspirations, willingness to change their vacationing behavior, and the perceived impacts of tourism on the environment At MU she presented the results of this extensive research to a full house.
An additional goal of Dr. Scarles visit was to strengthen ties between our two institutions, also leading a research group with members of the Tourism faculty. Our current partnership with the University of Surrey involves an active exchange semester program in which we’ve played host to visiting Surrey students and sent our own Modulians to soak up knowledge in Britain. The recent talks furthered plans to extend the exchange to a faculty level.
Particularly involved in the planning stages is MU researcher and lecturer Anja Hergesell, whose own research parallels Dr. Scarles’. She is currently pursuing her PhD with a focus on climate change mitigation in the tourism context by examining the effectiveness of current policies striving to encourage environmentally and specifically climate-friendly behaviors among consumers. Alongside Prof. Damar Lund-Durlacher and Tina Rønhovde Tiller also of MU, the four are working closely together on the BEST EN Network for Sustainable Tourism Education and Research.
The Latest Trends series continues through January, click here for more information. The lectures are held Fridays from 2:45-4:15pm, and the public is invited to attend.
