Transformational Tourism
Welcome to the Blog for Franklin College's 2026 Study Away travel course on "Transformational Tourism: How Travel Changes Us and the Places We Visit." I am Dr. Paul Fonstad, course instructor and creator. While most of the posts will be student led, before the course began I wanted to explain a little more about the journey we will be embarking on this January.
Course Inspiration
This will be my third time leading a Disney study away course for Franklin College (you can catch up on what we learned during our past two courses here. 
Further, much like Disney offers an amazing microcosm for exploration and discovery, the mobile nature of a cruise ship offers many opportunities to learn and grow as well. From shore excursions to ship explorations, learning about the various ports we visit and discovering what it takes to make a floating city like this work goes beyond what we could possibly do in a classroom, giving the students a unique and hopefully memorable experience.
Taking to students to Disney is always a great experience. The parks make for a great learning environment on many topics, and the students always come away with a greater appreciation of just what it takes to make the magic happen (I'm not the only professor who thinks this, in fact there is a great new book on the subject!). Beyond learning the topic though, it is great to see the students really grow and change through the process as well. For some, it is their first time on a plane flight, for others it may be overcoming their fear of a ride. For such a short experience, it really is such a transformative one.
Disney itself meanwhile has had a profound transformative effect on Florida as well. Swampland became prime real estate. Orlando grew from a small country town to the tourist capitol of the world. Each of these developments radically transformed the landscape, both in good ways (influx of tourism money, new jobs, etc.) and bad ways (low wage jobs, infrastructure burdens, etc.).
The final inspiration for the course came from a Caribbean cruise my family took. Much like Disney has transformed Florida, the cruise industry has transformed the Caribbean, growing from a single Royal Caribbean ship capable of carrying fewer than 800 passengers in 1970 to a massive industry today, with over 45 million people taking cruises every year on over 150 different ships throughout the region.
Further, much like Disney offers an amazing microcosm for exploration and discovery, the mobile nature of a cruise ship offers many opportunities to learn and grow as well. From shore excursions to ship explorations, learning about the various ports we visit and discovering what it takes to make a floating city like this work goes beyond what we could possibly do in a classroom, giving the students a unique and hopefully memorable experience.
The Plan
We will depart for Florida on January 3, spending one week at Disney World, followed by one week aboard the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas. Each day will include various readings and activities related to the notion of how the act of tourism both transforms us as individuals as well as changing the places we visit. Once we are in Florida, the students will take over blogging responsibilities, keeping this up to date with all that we are doing and learning during our time away from campus. For our final class project, each student will research and apply their learning to another tourism hotspot, thinking critically about the challenges they face and what possible solutions could be implemented to overcome them.
See You in the New Year!
To say I'm really looking forward to teaching this course is an understatement. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading our opening post, and I hope you enjoy following us on our journey as much as we will enjoy taking it. All for now, see you in January!
Dr. Paul Fonstad
Professor of Mathematics, Franklin College