The environmental dimension in the training of tourism professionals

Abstract

During the last decades, the incorporation of the environmental dimension in professional training in different disciplines has been put into practice, however, when the raw material is represented by natural and sociocultural resources, as in the case of the work field of tourism professionals, it is considered that addressing the environmental dimension in the study curriculum is essential and non-negotiable with other academic components. The development of the professional profile in the tourism area involves addressing concepts such as sustainable tourism, biodiversity conservation, waste management, responsible consumption, climate change, among others. This knowledge is essential to ensure that tourism professionals are able to make informed decisions and implement practices that minimize the negative impact on tourism destinations and maximize the positive impacts of the tourism product. For this reason, all those university education institutions that contemplate in their academic offering the training of professionals to insert them into the tourism sector, considering in advance that they must be able to lead and influence others to adopt sustainable practices in the tourism industry, being relevant in the same way that the training of tourism professionals implies being aware of environmental regulations and policies, in order to recognize resources as the only raw material that allows the development of tourism in a certain context.