International Relations and Tourism, case studies

Docente: Marco Clementi

Course type: Master +2
Value in ECTS: 3
Bibliographic references available on the University Library website

Academic year 2012/2013 - Fall semester

Course description
The course aims at increasing students´ awareness of the substantive issues involved in the interplay between international relations processes and international tourism flows, in order to detail the knowledge acquired in the course "International Relations and Tourism", and to study the different substantive challenges and opportunities tourism meets in different regional settings.
To this aim, the course will be arranged in teaching blocks devoted to study case studies which take place in different geopolitical areas that are relevant from both an international and tourism perspective, namely Asia and the Middle East. In particular,

1) the teaching-block devoted to Asia will: study the relationship between China and Taiwan, focusing on Chinese tourism in Taiwan and Taiwanese tourism in Mainland China;
study the impact on tourism of terrorism and ethnical conflicts in Southeast Asia, focusing on state and private strategies to answer these challenges;

Suggested Reading
I.N. Darma Putra and M. Hitchcock, Terrorism and Tourism in Bali and Southeast Asia, in M. Hitchcock, V.T. King and M. Parnwell (eds.), Tourism in Southeast Asia: Challenges and New Directions, NIAS Press, Copenhagen, 2008.
International Institute for Strategic Studies, Terrorism in Asia. What Does it Mean for Business?, IISS WP n. 360, London, 2008.
Bruce Vaughn et al., Terrorism in Southeast Asia, CRS Report for Congress, Washington, 2005.

2) the teaching-block devoted to the Middle East will:
provide a general overview of the political features of the region;
describe the key dynamics that characterized the development of the international relations of the Middle East since the XX century;
study the development of tourism in Egypt since the ascent to power of Anwar el-Sadat;
study the development of touristic relations between Israel and Jordan after the signing of the 1994 peace treaty.
study the range of trends that characterize the development of tourism in the Gulf, with particular emphasis on Dubai.

Suggested Reading
Y. Mansfield, The Middle East Conflict and Tourism to Israel, 1967-90, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3 , 1994. pp. 646-667.
M. Gray, Economic Reform, Privatization and Tourism in Egypt, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1998. pp.91-112.
R. Stein, "First Contact" and Other Israeli Fictions: Tourism, Globalization, and the Middle East Peace Process, Public Culture, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2002. pp. 515-543.