Transdisciplinary university engagement for sustainable tourism planning

Abstract

Sustainable tourism literature reveals an increasing understanding of the complexity of tourism development and the need for a holistic approach to sustainable tourism planning. This includes mixed-methods approaches that draw from multiple perspectives, and participatory planning processes that strengthen partnerships between community members, visitors, and tourism development stakeholders. This study describes transdisciplinary planning and design activities developed and implemented by the West Virginia University Rural Tourism Design Team (RTDT) to support the development of a cultural tourism performance agenda for the Tucker County, WV Cultural District Authority (CDA). We demonstrate how a transdisciplinary approach successfully engages the community and scaffolds outputs to create synergies between researchers and research outputs. Local ownership and stewardship of actionable items is enhanced through this scaffolded process leading to implementation.