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Description
This online course, developed by the UN World Tourism Organisation and Booking.com, offers a comprehensive introduction to sustainable community engagement for accommodation providers. Over five modules, you’ll explore key concepts, benefits, and best practices for integrating community-focused strategies into your business. The course includes videos, downloadable resources, and quizzes, culminating in a certificate of completion. It’s ideal for those seeking practical insights into enhancing sustainability in hospitality.
Important Information:
- Applications open: Anytime
- Priority deadline: Anytime
If you would like to enroll multiple users or need more information about this course, please contact us!
toa@ie.edu
What you'll learn
- ✔ Understand the benefits of community engagement for hospitality.
- ✔ Explore community-based tourism and its impacts.
- ✔ Learn best practices for responsible purchasing and meaningful employment.
- ✔ Discover how to preserve and celebrate local culture.
- ✔ Gain practical tips for effective community interaction and engagement.
Course content
- Understand the significance of local community support in tourism.
- Explore the economic, social, and cultural benefits of engaging with local communities.
- Discuss real-world examples of successful community engagement practices.
- Define community-led tourism and its principles.
- Identify different models of community-led tourism and their benefits.
- Explore strategies for implementing community-led tourism in your business.
- Learn methods for preserving local culture and environmental resources.
- Discuss best practices for integrating cultural and environmental sustainability into tourism.
- Analyze case studies of destinations successfully preserving their heritage.
- Understand the principles of ethical and sustainable purchasing.
- Explore strategies for sourcing products and services that support local economies.
- Discuss the impact of responsible purchasing on your business and community.
- Define what constitutes meaningful employment in the hospitality industry.
- Explore strategies for creating job opportunities that benefit both employees and the community.
- Analyze the long-term benefits of investing in meaningful employment practices.
WHO IS THIS PROGRAM DESIGNED FOR?
This course is ideal for accommodation providers, including supply managers, community managers, SMEs, and short-term rental owners/managers, as well as hospitality professionals seeking to enhance their understanding of sustainable community engagement. Whether new to sustainable practices or looking to further your existing knowledge, this course delivers practical information and tools for building more robust, sustainable relationships with your local community. Delivered online, the course includes videos, readings, quizzes, and checklists to facilitate learning at your own pace.
Meet our instructors
XAVIER FONT
Professor of Professor of Sustainability Marketing at the University of Surrey
Xavier is a professor, researcher and consultant specializing in sustainable tourism production and consumption. With expert knowledge on everything from sustainable tourism certification to sustainability marketing and policies, his work has been widely published. He serves as an advisor in the Travalyst coalition, where he uses his research experience to inform efforts and help stakeholders align on sustainability frameworks for the supply chain of the tourism sector.
MARINA D'ENGELBRONNER
Senior consultant, ERM
Marina has 30 years of experience in human rights and community engagement. Seven of these were spent working with local communities in Zimbabwe and Namibia. In the early 2000s, Marina spearheaded the evolution of human rights in business, helping companies with human rights due diligence and contributing to the Human Rights and Business guidelines (UN, GRI). Now at sustainability consultancy ERM, Marina leads human rights and social performance projects for clients in a variety of sectors in line with international standards.