Global citizenry, educational travel and sustainable tourism: evidence from Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

Educational travel, a neglected area of study in sustainable tourism, has grown substantially over the last 20 years in part as a response to institutional missions to promote international education, but also as a result of the USA's national security concerns to nurture a global citizenry. Considerable future growth is predicted following the bipartisan Lincoln Commission report and under the pending new legislation in the USA. Our pre-test/post-test study of almost 5% (n = 651 US students) of the entire short-term, US educational travel market to Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 revealed significant differences between the cohorts of the two programs, both of which focused on sustainable development. The Australia program not only produced significant increases in global citizenship (as measured by scores on consumer behaviors, support for environmental policies, and environmental citizenship) beyond that of the New Zealand program, but any initial differences between the programs were erased following participation. Reasons for the differences in attitude change are discussed. Analysis also noted key differences between students with different political orientations, but no gender differences. Implications for managing educational travel, marketing Australia's and New Zealand's tourism, sustainable tourism planning, and theory advancements are discussed.

全球公民，教育旅行和可持续性旅游：从澳大利亚和新西兰的案例

教育旅行，可持续性旅游中一个被忽略的研究领域，作为对教育机构促进国际教育的任务的回复，但是也作为美国国家安全考虑来培养全球公民的结果，在过去的20年里大幅度增长。在两党林肯委员会报告和美国的新法规下，可观的未来增长被预测到。我们的测试前/后研究是针对接近5% （n=651美国学生）的整个美国在年到2009年到澳大利亚和新西兰的短期教育旅行市场，并揭示了两个项目间重要的区别，都是着重于可持续性发展上的。与新西兰项目相比，澳大利亚项目不仅制造了重要的全球公民（以消费者行为的分数来衡量，以环境政策和环境公民来支持）增长，而且最初的项目间的区别在参与中被去除了。态度上的变化之间的区别的原因也有在文中讨论到。分析指出学生有着不同的政治背景会有很大的不同，但是没有性别差异。管理教育旅行，澳大利亚和新西兰旅游的市场营销，可持续性旅游规划，和理论增值都在文中有讨论到。

Keywords:

• educational travel
• sustainable development
• study abroad

关键词:

• 教育旅行
• 可持续性发展
• 出国学习
• 全球公民
• 澳大利亚旅游
• 新西兰旅游
• 经验教育

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael A. Tarrant

Michael Tarrant is Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA, where he directs the office of Global Programs in Sustainability, providing overseas opportunities for approximately 300 students annually.

Kevin Lyons

Kevin Lyons is an associate professor in tourism with the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. His research interests include educational tourism, volunteer tourism, youth development and leisure, and regional sustainable tourism planning.

Lee Stoner

Lee Stoner is a lecturer at the School of Sport and Exercise, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, with interests in the globalization and internationalization of higher education.

Gerard T. Kyle

Gerard Kyle is a professor in the Department of Park and Tourism Management at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA, where he directs the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Lab and offers study-abroad programs to the South Pacific.

Stephen Wearing

Stephen Wearing is an associate professor at the Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia. His current research focus addresses volunteerism in tourism.

Neelam Poudyal

Neelam Poudyal is an assistant professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA, where he publishes widely in the areas of human dimensions of natural resources and economics of policy of forest resources. Collectively, this team has research interests in the learning outcomes of overseas educational travel.