Plog in Public

Abstract

An important subject in teaching tourism is how destinations change but because of the temporal component of change, that is not always easy to do in the classroom. Plog in Public is a teaching activity that takes the student out of the classroom to observe and explore the ways tourists drive destination change. The activity is based on the work of Plog's (2002) model of venturesomeness, which provides a theoretical framework on four levels, ideal for instruction. The model presents the psychographic profile of the population at home, the psychographic profile of the population as travellers, their likely destinations and the likely direction of change for destinations. Using the model as the theoretical underpinning, the activity involves facilitated student observations with guided de-brefinig in an experiential manner. This activity can be carried at the home city or during field school programs.

Keywords:

• Experiential education
• destination change
• tourists
• psychographic segmentation
• Plog