7 Cross-curricular activities to explore global tourism

Why teach global tourism?

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, touching nearly every country and affecting everything from local economies to fragile ecosystems. For students, it’s a topic that feels immediately relevant. They’ve scrolled past travel influencers, spotted viral destination posts, and many have experienced tourism firsthand, whether on a family road trip or a school field trip.

That relevance is exactly what makes global tourism such a powerful teaching tool. It sits at the intersection of geography, economics, environmental science, civics, art, and cultural studies, giving you an entry point into meaningful cross-curricular conversations. When students examine why millions of people flock to a single city each year, or what happens to a coastal town when its coral reef becomes a tourist attraction, they’re building critical thinking skills that extend far beyond a single subject area.

So how do you take a topic this broad and turn it into something structured and actionable for your classroom? The seven activities below are designed to do exactly that, connecting the big ideas behind global tourism to hands-on learning across multiple disciplines.

Understanding the global tourism landscape

Before diving into activities, it helps to ground students in the basics. Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that involves people traveling to and staying in places outside their normal environment for leisure, business, or other purposes. It’s an entire ecosystem that shapes economies, cultures, and environments worldwide.

The types of tourism are varied and often overlapping. Ecotourism focuses on natural environments and conservation. Ethical tourism supports the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic. Seasonal tourism is driven by weather patterns or cultural holidays, while event tourism draws crowds to festivals, sports events, and gatherings like the Olympics. Then there’s adventure tourism, medical tourism, educational tourism, religious tourism, and business travel, each catering to different motivations.

Tourism brings real benefits. It creates jobs, stimulates local economies, encourages infrastructure development, and can even promote environmental conservation when destinations protect natural habitats to sustain visitor interest. But the challenges are just as real. Overtourism strains resources and infrastructure. Unregulated tourism leads to pollution and habitat destruction. Cultural traditions can be diluted when they’re monetized for entertainment. And the revenue doesn’t always reach the communities that need it most.

Sharing this foundation with your students sets the stage for deeper exploration. A short video like Tourism in Bali, Indonesia works well as an opening hook, giving students a vivid, real-world example before they start investigating on their own.

7 cross-curricular activities for teaching global tourism

These activities are designed primarily for high school classrooms but are flexible enough to adapt for middle school (see the section below for tips). Each one connects global tourism to a different subject area, making it easy to embed this topic into the lessons you’re already teaching.

1) Map tourism’s reach around the world

Subject connection: Geography

Understanding where tourists travel, and why, is fundamentally a geography question. This activity asks students to visualize tourism patterns and connect them to physical and human geography.

• Using a digital tool like Google Earth or a large printed world map, have students research and pin 10 to 15 of the world’s most-visited tourist destinations.
• For each pin, students should note the type of tourism that the destination represents (leisure, ecotourism, event, seasonal, and so on) and at least one geographic feature that draws visitors.
• Ask students to look for patterns. Are most destinations coastal? Near mountain ranges? In the Global North or Global South?
• As a follow-up, have students explore The Alps: Opportunities and Challenges to have a class discussion about how one region balances tourism with environmental and social pressures.

This activity builds spatial thinking and helps students see tourism as a global system rather than a collection of isolated vacation spots.

2) Examine the economics of a tourist destination

Subject connection: Economics

Tourism is a major driver of local and national economies, but who actually benefits? This activity has students dig into the financial side of the industry.

• Assign each student or small group a specific country or city that relies heavily on tourism revenue.
• Students research key economic data: how many tourists visit each year, what percentage of the local gross domestic product (GDP) comes from tourism, what types of jobs the industry creates, and where the revenue goes.
• Have students watch Tourism in Developing Countries and compare the economic dynamics in their assigned destination to the patterns discussed in the video.
• Each group presents a brief economic profile to the class, including at least one finding that surprised them.

You might pair this with a discussion of the economic impacts of globalization to widen the lens. Who benefits most when a multinational hotel chain opens in a small coastal town? That’s the kind of question that gets students thinking critically about economic inequality in tourism.

3) Investigate ecotourism and greenwashing

Subject connection: Environmental science

Ecotourism sounds like a win for everyone: travelers enjoy nature, and their spending supports conservation. But is it always that simple?

• Start by showing students The Paradox of Ecotourism, which uses Costa Rica as a case study to explore how ecotourism can both celebrate and harm the environment.
• As a class, create and populate two columns on the board: ways tourism improves natural environments and ways it threatens sustainability.
• Next, introduce the concept of greenwashing. Ask students to find real examples of businesses or destinations that market themselves as “eco-friendly” without backing up those claims.
• Finally, have students propose rules or regulations that could help travelers make more informed decisions based on environmental impact. They could draft these as a one-page policy brief or present them to the class as a mock regulatory board.

This pairs well with a broader look at human impact on ecosystems, giving students the scientific context to evaluate environmental claims critically.

4) Debate the pros and cons of overtourism

Subject connection: Civics and social studies

Should popular destinations limit the number of tourists they allow in? It’s a question with no easy answer, and that’s what makes it such a strong debate topic.

• Show students Managing Overtourism, which uses Venice, Italy, as a case study for exploring how cities grapple with too many visitors.
• Assign students roles: local residents, business owners, environmentalists, government officials, and tourism industry representatives.
• Each group prepares arguments from their assigned perspective, drawing on evidence from the video and their own research to decide the extent to which tourism should be encouraged.
• Hold a structured debate in which each side presents opening statements, rebuttals, and closing arguments.

For added depth, have students also watch Spain’s Toxic Tourism, which documents protests against mass tourism and the housing crisis it’s fueled. After the debate, ask the class to reflect: did anyone change their mind? What evidence was most persuasive?

5) Explore how social media shapes travel

Subject connection: Media literacy

A single Instagram post can turn an unknown beach into a crowded hotspot overnight. This activity explores the relationship between social media, tourism, and real-world consequences.

• Have students watch Instagram, Media, and Tourism and discuss: how does social media change the way people choose where to travel?
• Ask students to create a “social media map” by finding five to seven destinations that went viral on social media and experienced a surge in visitors as a result. Using a tool like Google Maps, they pin each location and attach the image or post that drove the trend.
• For each pin, students write a brief analysis: what happened to the destination after it went viral? Did the increased attention bring benefits, problems, or both?
• Extend the conversation with Airbnb, Media, and Tourism to examine how digital platforms reshape housing markets and local communities.

This is a great opportunity to discuss media literacy more broadly. Are students aware of how much their own travel aspirations are shaped by algorithms and influencer culture?

6) Design a sustainable tourism campaign

Subject connection: Art and communication

This creative project puts students in the role of a marketing team hired by a destination’s tourism board, with one catch: their campaign has to prioritize sustainability.

• Assign each student or group a specific region or country. They’re responsible for designing a tourism campaign that highlights the destination’s attractions while promoting responsible visitor behavior.
• Students should research the local culture, environment, and economy to make sure their campaign respects and reflects community values. ClickView’s Think Like a Global Citizen series is a useful starting point for understanding how tourism affects host communities.
• Campaigns can take the form of a poster, a short video script, a social media series, or a brochure. Encourage students to think about both the images they select and the language they use.
• Hold a “pitch day” where each group presents their campaign to the class. Classmates act as a review panel, evaluating whether the campaign balances promotion with sustainability.

This activity connects art and visual communication to real-world problem-solving, and it gives students the chance to practice persuasive writing and design thinking.

7) Analyze a real-world tourism case study

Subject connection: Cross-curricular (geography, economics, environmental science, civics)

This capstone activity brings everything together. Students conduct an in-depth investigation of a single destination to understand how tourism shapes a place across multiple dimensions.

• Each student or group selects a tourist destination of their choice (or you assign one to make sure there’s variety).
• Students research and report on four areas: geographic features that attract tourists, economic impacts (positive and negative), environmental consequences, and any laws or policies designed to manage tourism in the area.
• Managing Overtourism and Ethical Tourism at Uluru, Australia both serve as strong models for the kind of analysis students should aim for.
• Students present their findings in a format of their choice: a written report, a slide presentation, a short documentary-style video, or a podcast episode.
• After presentations, hold a class discussion. What lessons from one destination could apply to others? Were there any common themes across the case studies?

This activity works especially well as an end-of-unit project because it requires students to synthesize knowledge from multiple subject areas and present a well-rounded analysis.

Adapting these activities for middle school students

While these activities are written with high school students in mind, most of them translate well to middle school with a few adjustments. Consider narrowing the scope of research tasks (for example, assign specific destinations rather than having students choose their own), providing more structured templates for written components, and reducing the number of sources students are expected to consult. The ClickView Global Tourism topic page includes shorter video clips that work well for younger learners who benefit from concise, focused content. Role-playing debates and creative projects like the tourism campaign tend to land particularly well with middle school students, who often thrive when given a clear role and a creative outlet.

Tips for ongoing integration

Global tourism isn’t a topic you cover once and move on from. It connects to current events in ways that make it easy to revisit throughout the year.

• Tie lessons to real-world news. When a destination makes headlines for overtourism, a natural disaster, or a new sustainability initiative, bring it into the classroom as a quick discussion starter or journal prompt.
• Use video as a regular anchor. ClickView’s Tourism series and Festivals of the World videos work well as short warm-ups or Friday discussion starters. Even a five-minute clip at the start of class can spark a 15-minute conversation.
• Encourage student-driven inquiry. Once students have a foundation in tourism concepts, let them bring in examples they’ve noticed on social media, in the news, or from their own travel experiences. Their observations often lead to the most engaging discussions!
• Connect across departments. If you’re a social studies teacher, share these activities with colleagues in science, art, or English language arts. Tourism is broad enough that each department can take a different angle without overlap.

Global tourism is a complex, evolving topic with a wide range of perspectives. By giving students opportunities to explore that complexity through multiple subject lenses, you’re helping them become informed global citizens who understand how actions and decisions affect both people and the environment.

Sources

1. United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2024). World Tourism Barometer, 22(1). Available at: https://www.unwto.org/tourism-statistics/key-tourism-statistics
2. UNESCO. (2024). ‘Tourism and Culture’. Available at: https://www.unesco.org/en/tourism
3. National Geographic Education. (2023). ‘The Geography of Tourism’. Available at: https://education.nationalgeographic.org