STATE OF THE ART OF RESEARCH ON RESPONSIBLE TOURISM EDUCATION: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Responsible Tourism Education (RTE) is considered as an important tool to advance the concept of sustainable development. The components of RTE contribute significantly to the future workforce of tourism, which affects the practice of responsible tourism principles not only by self but also by insisting on their business operations and other stakeholders. Several review studies examined various aspects of responsible tourism such as attitudes, behavior, awareness, actions and so on, in the context of tourism stakeholders like tourists, hoteliers, travel agents and tour operators, destination management organizations. However, there are no studies examined in the literature in detail on RTE. In this regard, the study examines state of the research on RTE in terms of curriculum, teaching and learning, tools and technologies, methodologies, issues, challenges and advantages, and emerging trends. In doing so, the study constitutes a systematic literature review of the studies published in the Scopus- indexed outlets and adopts the PRISMA technique for search, inclusion and exclusion strategy. Total 40 studies were considered for the final review. Analysis shows that the responsible tourism education and related principles are mainly emphasized on eco-tourism and related destination planning and development. Studies examined responsible tourism principles such as local participation, economic aspects, national parks and protected areas, environmental education, conservation management, public attitude and perception. The study suggests that there is a need to advance sustainability discourses, particularly in the context of the RTE for higher tourism educational institutes, to adopt new trends and address the associated issues and challenges.