The
following compulsory modules enable you to develop a deep understanding of the
complexity of international hospitality, events and tourism management.
Please see
the following course structure charts:
Hospitality,
Tourism and Events Synthesis: You will be given an overview of the context, frameworks,
concepts, theories and issues in the tourism, events and hospitality industries.
You will learn to analyse and evaluate complex tourism, events and hospitality
situations.
Tourist
Consumer Behaviour and Marketing: You will explore the theoretical frameworks which underpin
patterns of consumer demand. You will be taught models and concepts drawn from
mainstream marketing, tourism marketing and the social sciences. This forms a
comprehensive understanding of tourist consumer behaviour and the tourist
decision-making process. Effective and creative marketing is based on sound analysis
and is relevant to the complete range of hospitality, events and tourism
sectors. You will research and create a marketing plan for a real tourism
business.
Hospitality
Operations Management: You will be introduced to hospitality operations within an international
context. Drawing on relevant management principles, you will develop an
understanding of financial, human resource and marketing management knowledge
at the unit level, which underpins the successful management of hospitality,
events and tourism companies. There will be site visits to local hospitality
businesses to provide practical examples from industry. You will take part in a
digital hotel business simulation assignment.
Contemporary
Issues in International Hospitality, Events and Tourism: You will develop a research focus
from a wide range of topics including: accounting, branding, climate change,
digital marketing, entrepreneurship, environmental issues, events, finance,
human resources, marketing, risk management, revenue management, social media,
and tourist consumer behaviour - as applied to the international hospitality,
events and tourism sector. You will research your chosen subject area,
critically analyse the literature and theory, and write an article suitable for
publication in an academic journal. You will work on your own with the support
of a specialist tutor.
Research
Methods: You will be
introduced to approaches, methodologies and resources available to improve your
researching capabilities. You will design the methodology for a research
project that helps you understand how to collect and analyse the data required
when writing your dissertation.
Dissertation: This is an
opportunity for you to investigate a topic in depth from multiple perspectives,
working independently and supervised by a specialist tutor. You choose the
hospitality, events or tourism management topic which you wish to study. This
can be the same topic as in your Contemporary Issues module or a different
subject area.
By writing
the dissertation you will develop your ability to critically review literature,
identify the gaps in current knowledge and practise relevant research skills to
facilitate data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation.
Mentoring
and Leadership Development: You will develop an in-depth understanding of leadership
theory and practice. Your understanding of leadership theory will increase by
engaging with contemporary debates on leadership in the hospitality, events and
tourism industries, with a particular focus on ethical leadership. You will
develop your professional competences and understanding of leadership practice
through participation in the school’s Bacchus Mentoring Programme, which will
match you with an experienced mentor from the international hospitality, events
or tourism industry.
Elective
modules
You can
choose one elective module from the following:
Tourism Digital Distribution
Strategies: The main
aim of this module is to enable you to critically evaluate current and emerging
developments in electronic distribution systems, which impact on the global
tourism industry. You will be introduced
to key Information Technology drivers, which have helped to revolutionise
computer networks and booking systems in tourism. The impact of global distribution systems and
the www are explored in detail from both a consumer and an organisational
perspective. The increasingly important
role that social media plays in the travel distribution system is also
extensively presented.
Events: In
this module you will explore the complex relationships between events, groups
and individuals drawing from the concepts and methods in various social
sciences. The module focuses on three themes: 1) the social and cultural
contexts in which events take place; 2) the various stakeholders who affect and
are affected by events; and 3) the social, cultural, environmental, economic
and political impacts of events for states, regions, organisations, groups and
individuals.
Intercultural Leadership: This module aims to enable you to
develop your intercultural management and leadership competences for the
international hospitality, events and tourism industries. You will learn how to
manage your own development - taking part in cross-cultural experiential
activities, reflecting on those activities, developing theoretical
understanding, and planning for future actions as an industry leader.
Revenue Management: This module introduces you to key
concepts within Revenue Management such as capacity management, dynamic pricing
and creative product development. To
fully understand how to apply revenue management within hospitality and tourism
businesses, you need to be aware of elements which influence customer purchase
decisions and to evaluate the complex relationship between price, cost, volume
and profit. Other electives may also be available.
If you
decide to take the sandwich mode your year of full-time taught study will be
followed by one year of full-time, supervised work experience. The time on
supervised work experience is paid and spent with a suitable international
hospitality and tourism employer. You carry out an assessed project for the
company as part of your academic studies on the placement.
As our
courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, course content and module choices may vary from
those listed in the course entry.
Teaching and learning
The
innovative learning experience on this course includes multicultural group
work, live case studies, the opportunity to create your own brand and an
international visiting speaker programme. You will have the opportunity to be
personally mentored by an industry leader.
The tutors
are internationally renowned for their research and consultancy activities, and
their excellent links with the hotel and tourism industry. They bring
commercial expertise into the classroom to inform you of contemporary
developments taking place in hospitality and tourism. Learning and teaching is
very much student-centred and interactive. You will take part in workshops,
seminars, lectures, theatre role-plays, case study analysis and one-to-one
tutorials.
Approach to assessment
Assessment
is based predominantly on individual coursework and the dissertation.
Field trips
Each year, there is a series of field trips to events such as the World Travel Market and visits to destinations, attractions, hotels, museums and the corporate office of a leading international hotel company.
Field trips are optional and are paid for by the student.
Attendance pattern
The
full-time mode involves approximately 15 hours of contact time per week, but in
addition there is a significant amount of independent and group study time. You
will therefore be expected to take a great deal of responsibility for your own
learning and to manage your time effectively.