Sustainable Tourism & Land Use
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)- Kujataa Site
Under the guidance of AEA Co-PI Tracy Michaud, USM, a delegation of 10 USM students, undergraduates, graduates, and Wabanaki partners traveled to South Greenland at the end of April to participate in an educational collaboration with Service Management and Arctic Guide students and faculty at Campus Kujalleq (CAK).
Through in person tourist site assessments and community stakeholder interviews, Project students learned how to complete a tourism needs assessment report. Reports were completed at Qassiarsuk, then compared to the report for Uunartoq. Students also conducted interviews of locals at Alluitsup Paa about tourism in Uunartoq. AEA team members oversaw the data collection for student reports.
The Project’s mid-term goal is to increase leadership and management training in the CAK curriculum. The Project’s product was an assessment and official report document that helps the South Greenland UNESCO World Heritage staff and other municipal workers request needed development to care for and give safe access to the sites.
UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Outcomes:
CAK teachers were trained by Dr. Michaud in how to complete a tourism management and development project with students, with the goal of incorporating these types of projects into their own curriculum and teaching this themselves in years to come.
Dr. Michaud in collaboration with Wabanaki partners lead a class of CAK and USM students in the project, and incorporated lessons on indigenizing the curriculum. Alaska Native faculty Debbie Mekiana, from UAF gave a presentation via Zoom. Both lessons were incorporated into the final assessment of participating students for the spring academic term.
CAK put out a national press release on the project, stating that the curriculum was now international with the USM collaboration.
