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Abstract
Addressing the dearth of sustainable tourism teaching simulations, this article details the design, development, testing and validation of a destination development game simulation designed to reinforce the teaching and learning of sustainable tourism principles. We discuss two stages of model development, including an earlier game developed using system dynamics and an evolved version with agent-based modelling extensions, incorporating a flock leadership framework and network theory, which together provided a framework for considering the human dynamics provoked within the simulation interaction. For Study 1, simulation validation was based on feedback received from staff and students of an Australian higher education institution for which students were assessed on their use of the simulation in a classroom setting. The simulation illustrated to the students the complexity of decision-making in tourism destinations, while highlighting the need for a broader range of stakeholder interactions. We detail the initial validation of Study 2 as a precursor to further testing. The development process has highlighted the importance of a coherent and familiar context as background to using such a simulation as a teaching and learning tool. Further validation will be conducted in diverse institutions to trial and observe different modes of uptake of the simulation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
G. Michael McGrath
G. Michael McGrath gained his PhD from Macquarie University in 1993 and his most recent academic appointment was as Professor of Information Systems at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. Prior to that, he had over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry. His current research is focused broadly on the use of IT within the tourism and hospitality industry and, more specifically, on the development of advanced decision support systems for various sustainable tourism applications.
Leonie Lockstone-Binney
Leonie Lockstone-Binney is Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management at Griffith University, Australia. Leonie’s main area of research expertise since 2000 relates to volunteering, with a particular focus on event and tourism settings. Consolidating on her reputation in the field, Leonie has published her work in several top-tier journals and continues to collaborate on projects with leading researchers from Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Faith Ong
Faith Ong is Lecturer in the Tourism discipline at The University of Queensland’s School of Business. Her research interests lie in the role of tourism, hospitality and events as tools of social change. In particular, she focuses on inclusivity for marginalised communities in events and tourism. She has published in the areas of volunteer tourism, volunteerism, critical events and sustainability. Faith is currently undertaking research on inclusivity at events relating to marginalised communities, and continues to work in areas related to volunteering and sustainability.
Elisabeth Wilson-Evered
Elisabeth Wilson-Evered is an Honorary Professor with the Victoria University Institute of Health and Sport. Elisabeth’s expertise is in areas of leadership, integrity, innovation, individual-team-organisational capability, technology adoption, health services research such process evaluation in Randomised Control Trials and interventions for complex systems. In the sport context, her passion is on leadership integrity and creating systems wide leadership to address corruption and unethical behaviour.
Madelene Blaer
Dr Madelene Blaer (neé McWha) is a Lecturer in the Department of Tourism at Monash University, Australia. Her research explores the intersections between tourism, digitalism and the media. She has published work in a number of reputable and high-impact academic journals and books in the areas of critical tourism studies, sustainable tourism, travel writing and publishing, literary tourism, emulative journeys, travelling identities and ethics. Her research interests also extend into the dynamics of online travel influence in the age of social media and its practical implications for sustainable destination development.
Paul Whitelaw
Paul A Whitelaw is Academic Director at The Hotel School, Melbourne. Paul's key interests are in the ongoing professionalisation of the hospitality industry, especially in the areas of career progression and development, harnessing modern technologies to improve the guest experience and the application of advanced analytical techniques to improve operating efficiency. Before joining academia in 1991, Paul enjoyed nearly 15 years of experience in various line and executive positions in the hospitality industry. Paul is currently leading a project team that is working on the setting of national curriculum standards for tourism, hospitality and events undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programmes.