Abstract:

The educational innovation research group “Methodological improvement for the Final Degree Projects in Tourism (FDP)”, formed by lecturers from different disciplines of the Universitat Jaume I, has carried out a research on how to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the Final Degree Project in Tourism Degree. The research aims to be a contribution to the commitments assumed by the university with the progress of the society. In this vein, Universitat Jaume I Strategic Plan includes among the institution's values and action principles the promotion of the cooperation for strengthening the territory's development in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In this context, it has been considered appropriate to analyze how to incorporate the SDGs through the FDP, since the curriculum of this subject has as the objective to evidence the student’s capacity to integrate previous knowledge and skills acquired throughout the learning process in the Tourism Degree.

The Tourism Degree has been taken as an object of analysis as the importance that the environmental quality of the territory and its resources, and the wellness of the local population that conforms the tourist destination, has both for the economic competitiveness of the tourism firms and the competitive position of the destinations. Therefore, tourism activity presents the perfect context to analyze the impact and importance of both the sustainability approach and SDGs adoption.

In line with the transversally of tourism, another factor that justifies the fact of incorporating the SDGs in this field of study is that 15 areas of knowledge, belonging to the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences and the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences from the Universitat Jaume I, take part in its teaching.

So, the contributions made from all these areas, which are oriented to the tourist enterprise and public management, allow us to affirm that they are significant as for their wide scope of application in the territory and society.

In this study, we develop the main aspects of the methodology of the research in order to integrate the SGDs as guiding principles into the FDP of the Tourism Degree, which, under a social commitment, contribute to promoting the sustainability of tourism from an integrating perspective.

Keywords:

Sustainable Development Goals, Tourism Degree, Final Degree Project, Sustainability.