Becoming a part of the destination: a model for teaching tourism landscape

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to explore the role of the experiential learning method in teaching tourism landscape. A model has been developed to teach tourism landscape through analysis on the basis of Kolb’s experiential learning theory. The sample group consists of sixty-five high school students aged 14–18 years. The proposed model was designed in three parts using a mixed research design; fieldwork, qualitative analysis, and thematic mapping as the components of experiential learning. The results show that the experiential learning method is effective in teaching tourism landscape. Students understood the concept of the landscape. It has been proven that the teaching model developed to interpret the landscape and its three-dimensional components on maps are suitable. This study is important as it suggests a new approach that can be used in tourism education.