How to Make a Career in Sustainable Tourism?

Environment degradation is a real problem faced by us today. The damage is much more than the restoration being done. Various studies have revealed that if we stop human intervention in Mother Nature, especially the huge number of tourists in the Amazon forests, Himalayas or other important ecological reserves, nature will heal on its own. But it will be a gradual process.  Sustainable tourism, which aims at minimizing the negative impact of tourism, has now come into practice in many countries. If you’re looking for some tourism jobs or planning to make a career in Sustainable Tourism, then, let us take you through all that you need to know, via this blog. 

WHO defines Sustainable Tourism as

“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.”

What is Sustainable Tourism? 

Sustainable Tourism promotes the optimal use of environmental resources that account for a key element of tourism and maintains ecological balance leading to the conservation of biodiversity as well as natural heritage. It also emphasizes retaining the authenticity of host communities by conserving their cultural heritage and traditional values. It fosters long-term socio-economic benefits including stable employment and income-earning opportunities for the host communities. 

Sustainable Tourism Courses

The overcrowding at most tourist places around the world has led to severe repercussions, thus, it has now become essential to practice Sustainable Tourism for a sustainable future. In this respect, many universities have now started to provide full-time courses so that candidates can kick-start their career in Sustainable Tourism with rock-solid foundations. Listed below are the popular courses in Sustainable Tourism- 

• Masters in International Sustainable Tourism Management
• MSc Management and Sustainable Tourism
• MSc Tourism Management
• MA Tourism and Hospitality Management
• Masters in Sustainable Tourism Management
• MSc Leisure, Tourism and Environment 
• MBA in Sustainable Tourism 
• MSc/ PGDip/ PGCert Responsible Tourism Management
• MA in International Tourism Development
• MSc in International Hospitality and Tourism Management
• MSc International Tourism Management
• Masters in Tourism Marketing and Management
• MSc International Tourism Destination Management

Must Read: Travel and Tourism Course after 12th

Course Structure and Curriculum 

The program focuses on the environmental, social, and economic aspects of tourism in order to equip the candidates with the necessary skills to generate sustainable development solutions, to combat the challenges faced by the tourism industry. A thorough understanding of the notion of sustainability in terms of socio-economic impacts, sustainability-based marketing along with ideal practices for the planning of sustainable tourism is a part of the course structure. Let us have a look at some of the popular subjects of these courses-

Tourism Sustainability and Climate Change	Service Delivery Risk and Resilience	Sustainable Tourism: Best vs Worst Practices
Social Economic and Cultural Impacts Maximizing Benefits	Contemporary Issues in Human Resource Management	Protecting Cultural Heritage, Promoting Sense of Place
Managing Strategic Change	Introduction to Sustainable Tourism and Rural Development	Managing Creativity and Innovation
Managing Tourism’s  Socio-economic Impacts	Achieving Sustainability Balance: People, Planet and Profit	Engaging and Education Visitors in Sustainability Practices

Certificate courses in sustainable tourism

Read on below to know about some of the online courses on Sustainable tourism development and click on them to start your certification at affordable prices: 

• Planet-Centred Design: Public-Planet Partnerships 
• Fundamental of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
• Solid Waste Management
• Sustainable Development: Business Fundamentals
• Eco-friendly logistics – An introduction to Green Shipping
• Ecological Design Concepts 

Top Colleges of India 2023

Enlisted below are the best institutes for pursuing your career in Sustainable tourism with their corresponding fees: 

College	Fees Structure
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management, Mumbai	INR 2,06,000
IGNOU, Delhi	INR 7,000
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow	INR 19,05,000
Indian Institute of Forest Management, Madhya Pradesh	INR 6,24,000
TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi	INR 10, 25,000
Terna Public Charitable Trust’s Engineering College, Navi Mumbai	INR 9,21,500
Amity School of Natural Resources & Sustainable Development, Noida	INR 3,20,000

Top Universities 

Listed below are the top universities in the world offering the above-mentioned and likely courses in sustainable tourism-

• University of Glasgow
• GBSB Global Business School 
• Wageningen University and Research
• Coventry University
• Leeds Beckett University
• University of Northampton
• Sheffield Hallam University 
• University of Eastern Finland
• University of Brighton 
• Edinburgh Napier University
• Monash University 

Also Read: Career in Travel and Tourism

Eligibility Criteria 

If you are looking forward to setting up a career in Sustainable Tourism, the first and foremost step is to apply for the desired course. In order to do so, mentioned below are some key points related to admission requirements that you must keep in mind- 

• Basic education of 10 + 2 from a recognised board 
• A UG degree in related fields with a minimum GPA required
• Minimum required score in GMAT or GRE as per the program’s requirement 
• A good score in IELTS, TOEFL or  any other English language proficiency exam
• SOP and LOR in the prescribed format

Tips to Make a Successful Career in Sustainable Tourism

Here’s what tourism professionals suggest in terms of getting a foot into the sustainable tourism door: 

1. Bring the Right Skills – Learning the skills of listening, engaging, motivating, and communicating is the key to a successful career dedicated to making tourism more sustainable. 
2. Don’t Look for a Job in just “Sustainable Development” – It isn’t a business sector or discipline with established procedures and career paths. So to succeed as a professional in this sector, make sure that this is what you really want to pursue and not follow just the trend. 
3. Collect Field Experience – By having field experience, a candidate also widens his horizon, which is essential for success as a tourism professional. 
4. Determine Best Initiatives – It means starting up from a scratch is also very time and energy-consuming and knowing how you can support and/or complement existing initiatives. 
5. Focus on the Impact – Work with industry and make sure it isn’t about the outputs but the impact a person is making: be it your research publication or as a practitioner. 

Jobs & Salary 

Thriving career opportunities await you in the field of Sustainable Tourism. Through the attributes of the course, you will be a tourism professional who will be capable of coping with the challenges faced by environmental,  social and economic changes. You will be an ideal candidate for specialised managerial roles in the tourism industry.

Following are the most prominent jobs under Sustainable Tourism with their respective average base salary: 

Job Profiles	Average Salary
Sustainable Tour Guide	INR 2 lakhs – 3 lakhs
Sustainable Tourism Educator	INR 2 lakhs – 3 lakhs
Environmental Architecture	INR 4 lakhs – 5 lakhs
Sustainable Tourism Developer & Planner	INR 2 lakhs – 5 lakhs
Travel Writer	INR 3 lakhs – 4 lakhs
Sustainable Tourism Transport	Ranges around INR 5 lakhs
Tourism Advisor	INR 3 lakhs – 4 lakhs
Tourism Operator	Ranges around INR 3 lakhs
Environmental Consultants	INR 5 lakhs – 6 lakhs

Check Out: Jobs in Travel and Tourism

We hope that through this comprehensive guide, you are now familiar with a route to establish a career in sustainable tourism. If you are someone who has always loved the mountains and oceans and the flora and fauna, which are a comprehensive part of our ecosystem, and you want to give back to where we all take from but don’t know how to start, then get in touch with our Leverage Edu experts today. Get the right guidance to accelerate your career by choosing the right education by means of which you can lay the foundation for a better world. A world you want to build for the generations to come!