Tourism Experiential Learning through Academic Fieldtrips in Higher Education

Abstract

The professionalization of tourism education through experiential learning by fieldwork should be a key aspect of sustainable tourism development strategies. Based on the previous statement, the aim of this research is to develop a tourism learning experience through an academic field trip in Copper Canyon, with the purpose of generating a practical learning situation that serves as a strategy and practice of sustainability in the syllabus of Tourism Planning at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez. An experimental methodology was implemented with students (n=26) from the advanced level of the tourism program that participated in the field trip, and mixed methods of empirical and theoretical types were applied. During the practical activity, the geospatial approach was applied to the study of the destination by interpreting the production process of the tourism space, as well as, the recognition of the tourism model, the inventory and assessment of tourist resources, and the analysis of impacts. The results allowed for comprehension and justification of the contribution of the practical learning process to the formation of tourism knowledge, by incorporating field trips to develop experiences through practical learning.