NEWS & INSIGHT
In recent years, mass tourism has been a point of contention for many countries, with renowned sites such as Maya Bay in Thailand closing for periods due to the effects of high footfall. Tourists can be both a blessing and a curse for popular locations, bringing money into the local economy, but also litter, erosion and antisocial behaviour. But does age have an impact on the sustainable travel practices of tourists? In a recent study led by UC Business School professor Girish Prayag, Generation Z tourists were found to be more likely to adopt sustainable travel practices. However, it was also found that environmental awareness of these practices varies widely within each generation, suggesting that sustainability values are not uniform across age groups. “Our research challenges the assumption that younger generations are automatically more environmentally conscious and travel sustainably,” Prayag explained. “While Gen Z travellers are more likely to demonstrate sustainable behaviours, our findings show that attitudes towards the environment are complex and influenced by more than just age or generational identity.” The study examined the attitudes and behaviours of 600 international visitors to the region of Canterbury, on New Zealand’s South Island. It used the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) to assess how age and generational identity shape sustainable travel practices, comparing Baby Boomers with members of Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z. Examples of sustainable behaviours demonstrated included saving resources and purchasing local food. The study says its findings can help those working in the tourism sector not to make age-based assumptions. “Understanding the diversity within each generation allows tourism operators to design more effective sustainability initiatives that resonate with travellers’ values and motivations,” Prayag advised. The research was published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism . EB STUDY EXPLORES DIFFERENCES IN GENERATIONAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL SCHOOL : University of Canterbury (UC) Business School, New Zealand
To enhance flexibility and stackability, while creating an additional pipeline for MBA recruitment, AMBA now permits accredited institutions to launch MBA-compatible Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) programmes. The move is being described as the biggest change in the AMBA accreditation criteria since the association’s decision to start accrediting fully online MBA programmes back in 2016. PG Cert programmes are composed of up to a third of the credits of a full MBA programme and must be based on courses from the school’s existing AMBA-accredited MBA. Importantly, AMBA also allows for the credits from PG Certs to be transferred to a subsequent MBA within five years of their completion. The transfer of up to 33 per cent of an MBA programme’s credits is conditional on an institution’s strict application of AMBA’s MBA-level standards in admission, delivery and assessment in the PG Cert. This means that only applicants with at least three years’ work experience can be enrolled on an AMBA-compliant PG Certs. Furthermore, the required mandatory and rigorous assessment distinguishes the PG Cert from most forms of executive education, where there is little or no assessment. When designing an AMBA-compliant PG Cert, institutions are free to choose the MBA courses that will be included in the programme. A PG Cert, therefore, can be composed of any combination of MBA core courses, MBA electives, or a mix of the two. The new AMBA policy is designed to enable prospective students who are not ready to commit to a full MBA to stagger their studies and stack credits over a number of years. AMBA-compliant PG Cert and full MBA courses can either be delivered jointly in the same classroom to students from both groups, or take place using a format of separate streams, at the discretion of the institution’s management. GI AMBA OPENS UP NEW STACKABLE MBA PATHWAY ORGANISATION : The Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association (AMBA & BGA), UK
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 9
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