Applications are being accepted for 800 students to take an online sustainable tourism destination management course.
Cornell University and the Travel Foundation are collaborating to run the course with financial support coming from German sustainable development and international education provider GIZ.
Applicants must commit to completing the 40-hour course over eight weeks – equivalent to about half a day of study a week. The deadline for applications is July 31.
Graduates who fulfil all course requirements will receive a recognition of achievement from Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business.
The course aims to train global hospitality and tourism professionals for 154 countries in using sustainable practices across all areas of the tourism industry.
The Travel Foundation chief executive Jeremy Sampson said: “This course fulfils a critical need, equipping destination managers and other place-based professionals with the tools and know-how to navigate the big challenges of the 21st century.
“The scholarship places are a fantastic opportunity to ensure that, across the globe, cost is no barrier to accessing this learning and support from an Ivy League university.”
Megan Epler Wood, managing director of Cornell’s Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program (STAMP) and co-faculty lead, said: “Sustainable tourism destination management is now 100% affordable for students who seek to raise their capacity and address the future of management of tourism destinations worldwide.”
Co-faculty leader Mark Milton added: “This course has been designed to deliver vital tools to address a global skills gap in destination management that Cornell and the Travel Foundation first highlighted in their 2019 report ‘Destinations at Risk: the Invisible burden of Tourism’.”
The application process is live on Cornell’s Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program website.