Our specialized courses and workshops offer access to experts and facilitate discussions on the latest best practices for navigating a host of complex challenges within the tourism industry. Connect with professionals from around the globe, engage in peer networking, and share success stories while addressing common hurdles.

Explore our current offerings to enrich your practical knowledge, expand your skill set, and equip yourself with the latest tools to maximize your destination's potential.

Visitor Management Strategies for Destinations

Learn how visitor management strategies for destinations can transform your approach to tourism management. This course is designed for destination managers and delves into key tactics to optimize visitor experiences, minimize negative impacts on local communities and environments, and preserve cultural and natural heritage. Participants gain the tools to ensure tourism contributes positively to destination well-being while minimizing adverse effects. Join us to unlock the potential of effective visitor management strategies and elevate your destination's approach to sustainable tourism.

In this course, students will:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of essential concepts and emerging trends in visitor flow management.
• Acquire knowledge of best practices and tailored strategies for visitor management across various destination types.
• Learn to develop effective visitor management plans through participatory planning processes, ensuring alignment with community needs and sustainable tourism principles.

Learn More and Register for Visitor Management Strategies for Destinations

Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Coastal Destinations

This professional development course is designed for destination managers to gain an understanding of vulnerability risk assessments and their critical role in addressing climate change. Participants will learn the basics of how to assess the exposure and sensitivity of their destinations to climate-related risks, evaluate adaptive capacity, and prioritize areas of vulnerability. The course will also guide managers in using the results of these assessments to develop effective climate adaptation strategies that enhance the resilience of tourism destinations, ensuring their long-term sustainability and ability to thrive in a changing climate.

In this course, students will:

• Understand key concepts of climate change, vulnerability risk assessments, climate adaptation and resilience and learn how to develop climate adaptation strategies using established frameworks.
• Examine real-world case studies to identify best practices for assessing hazards and vulnerabilities in tourism destinations, particularly in coastal areas, and incorporate these insights into adaptation strategies.
• Engage in interactive discussions to apply best practices and develop climate adaptation plans tailored to their specific destinations, increasing overall resilience.

Learn More and Register for Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Coastal Destinations

Our training programs offer tourism entrepreneurs and suppliers the opportunity to expand their skill sets, enhance the customer experience, and implement strategic marketing and sales approaches for their businesses.

Cultural Tourism Enterprise Training Program

The Cultural Tourism Enterprise Training Program is a training series for Native American tourism entrepreneurs, operators and suppliers throughout the U.S. The program was developed by the George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies in partnership with the Native American Development Corporation and Triia, and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency. This training program is a non-degree, non-credit-bearing program.

This self-paced training series is designed to be flexible and meet the needs of Native entrepreneurs — such as campground operators, guides and artisans — who are interested in sharing their cultural heritage with tourists and travelers who want to experience all that Native communities have to offer.

The program provides 12 hours of training in 15 modules, split across two levels:

Level 1: Visitor Readiness and Shaping the Customer Experience

• Introduction to Module 1: Why Tourism Matters
• Module 1: Legal Business Operations
• Module 2: Tourism Business Liability
• Module 3: Authentic Visitor Experiences
• Module 4: The Customer Experience
• Module 5: Customer Communication & Service Recovery
• Module 6: Five Phases of Travel
• Module 7: Online Presence

Level 2: Marketing and Product Development; Operations, Distribution and Sales

• Introduction to Module 2: How Tourism Works
• Module 8: Customer Segmentation
• Module 9: Product Development
• Module 10: Pricing Your Tourism Product
• Module 11: Financial Considerations and Tourism Business Policies
• Module 12: Good Practices in Operations Management
• Module 13: Establishing Distribution Channels

Learn More and Register for the Cultural Tourism Enterprise Training Program

"We need a fresh model for governance of tourism if we are going to change things," said Seleni Matus, director of GW's International Institute of Tourism Studies.

International Institute of Tourism Studies
The George Washington University School of Business
2201 G St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20052