Sustainable Tourism and the Curriculum : the Courses Related to the Environment Offered in the Department of Tourism Sciences at University of the Ryukyus

The concept of sustainable tourism is now focused worldwide and its implementation and how to establish effective measures have become a global theme. Tourism being the main industry of Okinawa, realization of sustainable tourism is especially urgent, because ecological vulnerability is high in islands such as Okinawa. Natural environment, society, and culture are always easily affected by the impact of tourism in an island. One of the social demands for the Department of Tourism Sciences founded at the University of the Ryukyus is to develop the personnel who can consider and act along the concept of sustainable tourism in various fields of tourism. In order to organize the curriculum and to offer the group of subject courses, the present circumstances of overseas and domestic tourism including Okinawa are overviewed. Outlined here are the aims, the goals, and the classes of each environment related subject