Presentation: International Centre for Responsible Tourism

The International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University is a post-graduate training and research centre. The ICRT plays a leading role in responsible tourism and hospitality, generating change through advisory, mentoring and development work with industry and government, and we support our students to play leading roles in the Responsible Tourism Movement. Moroever, ICRT offers consultancy services in the fields of:

• Certification, Monitoring and Evaluation
• Tourism & Conservation
• Planning & Management
• Economic Development & Pro-Poor Tourism
• Marketing & product Development
• Policy & Standards
• Responsible Tourism
• Private Sector
• Supply Chain Management

The staff and associates of the ICRT have a very broad range of experience and expertise in training, particularly focused on working with people in the tourism industry, in government, in academia or conservation. They have run tailor made training on Responsible Tourism for the Association of Independent Tour Operators and a number of companies including Exodus and The Adventure Company. ICRT can offer any of the material taught in the MSc as intensive short courses taught anywhere in the world and people can complete the courses as CPD or if they register formally with the university and satisfy the coursework requirements they can earn credits towards a Masters.

• Building on from work undertaken during 2008 with a number of small, independent museums in West and North Yorkshire, we are currently providing training and mentoring support in business planning and forward planning for five Turst-run museums in Scarborough and Ryedale Districts
• ICRT is currently working with the Federation of Tour Operators to develop training materials for the UK industry on Responsible Tourism Management
• ICRT has written a sustainable tour operator management guide for UNEP, and delivered in the UK, Belgium, Italy, Jordan and Nepal amongst others
• ICRT also teach sustainable supply chain management applied to hotels and destinations, for example for the Colombian Hotel Association on behalf of the World Tourism Organisation
• ICRT has taught 3 and 5 day intensive courses on tourism, local economic development and poverty reduction in Bolivia, Honduras, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and The Gambia
• ICRT worked with Heidi Keyser of ICRT South Africa to provide a high –level training course on Responsible Tourism for university academics in South Africa
• In The Gambia ICRT run intensive short courses for Gambians and international participants on Local Economic Development and Pro-Poor Tourism; Achieving Responsible Tourism in The Gambia; Responsible Tourism in Destinations
• Other training includes ecotourism planning for Conservation International, in Gabon; database and internet marketing for small tourism firms in Southern Africa; environmental management systems for Instituto de Hospitalidade in Brazil; and Corporate Social Responsibility and environmental policy training with Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and Tourism Concern

Moreover, ICRT can tailor the following training workshops according to each company’s needs, with its preference being change management workshops. In the UK ICRT tends to work with the private sector directly while overseas often partners with a host organisation (association, NGO, government or donor) to develop strategies for the companies being trained to implement the changes suggested in the workshop, providing assistance before and after the event for maximum effectiveness, and promoting an accountability and monitoring process. Also, ICRT can offer the option of taking four modules as part of a Professional Diploma in Tourism Management. 1. Responsible tourism management 2. Pro-poor tourism 3. Strategic Planning 4. Marketing 5. Product development 6. Ecotourism 7. Tourism in protected areas 8. Wildlife tourism 9. Financing conservation through tourism 10. Management systems 11. Tour operating 12. Business plans for new tourism companies 13. IT and revenue management 14. Tourism education and training 15. Corporate Social Responsibility 16. Heritage tourism 17. Events as destination marketing tools 18. Sustainability management for accommodation 19. Developing sustainability and quality certification programmes 20. Retailing for tourism development Click here for more information on ICRT.