College Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Tourism Climate Change Impacts: Do Major, Grade and Gender Matter?

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the level of understanding and perceptions of climate change using the variables of major, gender, and class level with a sample of undergraduate college students. Using a Likert-type questionnaire, data were collected from a randomly selected sample in a Midwest college in the United States. The study found that students in the tourism major were similar in their understanding and perceptions of climate change when compared to non-tourism majors. Males and females differed in their overall climate change knowledge and perceptions regarding climate change. In addition, class level (year 1–4) had a significant impact on students’ climate change perceptions and understanding of climate change knowledge. These and other findings from the study have important implications for tourism education and curriculum development relative to climate change issues, particularly at the post-secondary and college levels.