Center Initiatives

Inventory of Sustainable Tourism Practices for North Carolina

The Center is compiling an inventory of sustainable tourism practices in North Carolina to provide advocacy for business owners who are embracing sustainable business operations and to promote awareness among individual travelers and public policy makers about the benefits and importance of responsible tourism. The inventory also serves to assist conscious travelers in making responsible choices by offering a directory of various accommodations and travel/tourism providers in North Carolina who are committed to sustainability.

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Lecture Series

The Lecture Series provides an educational venue for students, academic researchers, business operators, public policy makers, and community members to discuss current challenges facing tourism and destination communities and share information and ideas about the latest developments and trends in sustainable tourism. Brian Mullis, President, Sustainable Travel International, recently presented "The Greening of the Tourism Industry" this spring, and coming up this fall, October 2, 2008, Bernard Lane, Editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, will discuss "Business and the Environment."

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Sustainable Tourism Consultations

The Center offers support to North Carolina communities by providing advisory services in sustainable tourism planning, tourism business consultation, and public policy development and implementation.

Faculty Experts for Community Tourism Initiatives

The Center is collecting an inventory of individual ECU faculty members and general program initiatives specific to sustainability and tourism. The inventory provides a multi disciplinary index of faculty expertise and features current research interests, community outreach efforts, notable publications, and courses being offered at the university related to sustainability and tourism.

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Renewable Energy in Tourism Initiative (RETI)

The Renewable Energy in Tourism Initiative (RETI), is a joint effort of the Center, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and the University of Colorado at Boulder's Energy Initiative, to establish best practices in energy use for the following tourism sectors—accommodations, airlines, cruise lines, public lands, ski resorts and tour operators. Please visit www.renewabletourism.org to participate in the public comment phase.

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Climate and Tourism Initiative

Despite the fundamental influence climate has on tourism services throughout the state, there is limited understanding of the relationship between climate and business operations, and long-term economic and environmental sustainability. To address this relationship, the Center for Sustainable Tourism and affiliates are collaborating to sponsor a workshop to address the complexities of the tourism industry particularly the business and economic sectors, in addition to the complex relationship of climate seasonality and variability as well as climate warming, on economic transformation and community development.

Community "Sense of Place"

Second Home Development Impacts Initiative

In sustainable tourism development, it is essential to foster and protect community “sense of place” in order to balance the vitality of the tourism economy and quality of community experience for both residents and visitors alike. Toward that end, the Center is engaged in conducting research to assess the impacts of second home development on community economics, business development, public policy, and community sense of place.

Master of Science in Sustainable Tourism (MS-ST)

The MS-ST is designed as an interdisciplinary degree with heavy emphasis on sustainable tourism research, policy and management, and drawing from the expertise and resources of the College of Human Performance, College of Human Ecology, the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Business.

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