International Tourism Management

This dynamic course builds your theoretical knowledge and practical management skills while exploring key global issues; environmental challenges; sustainable tourism; and new and developing technologies. You experience real-world situations through real-life industry scenarios, field trips and an optional industry placement in the UK or abroad. Our ethical approach looks at the business of tourism and its impact on environmental and cultural preservation.

Facilities and specialist equipment

• Access to the Opera hospitality management programme, providing immersive simulation software.

• Our simulation software ‘Simulate’ allows you to take control of your own airline and gain key insights into airline management.

• Gain competencies in key digital skills such as Excel through SIMnet, our Microsoft Office training platform.

• Excellent Learning Resources Centre with an extensive library, giving you access to a wide range of academic and industry knowledge including e-journals, e-books and information databases as well as traditional printed books.

Your student experience

We work closely with the Student Union’s Tourism and Aviation Society to develop your entrepreneurship and event-planning skills.

Take advantage of local industry-relevant employment opportunities such as London Luton Airport, TUI, EasyJet, Luton Hoo Hotel, and leading hotel brands such as Hilton, Ibis and Marriott.

Benefit from our Aviation Job Fair, attended by airlines and airports, providing opportunities to explore further employment or internships.

Attend talks from international tourism professionals from across the world, broadening your understanding of what is possible in the field. Recent speakers have had influential positions at EGL Tours, Enterprise Rent-a-car, Wizz Air and the Cuban Tourist Board.

Field trips are organised in conjunction with the Student Union’s Tourism and Aviation Society and may include visits to London Luton Airport, TUI, Olympic Park and the World Travel Market.

Course Modules

Year 1

Applied numeracy for business – Develop key numeracy skills vital to your future employability. Beginning your professional business journey – Take on business challenges and collaborate with peers in a professional environment. Sustainable business in tourism and hospitality – Working with others, be able to recognise sustainability issues and challenges within the tourism and hospitality industries. Managing people in tourism and aviation – Learn people-managing skills in the commercial tourism and aviation industries.

Year 2

Strategic business planning – Explore factors that drive change and understand how strategic planning can help maximise opportunities for growth, locally and globally. Cultural tourism and heritage management – Understand the interplay between cultural tourism and heritage management, and how these concepts can complement and conflict with each other. Tourism and society – Develop your awareness of how tourism and society interact to create change. Data and research methods for business – Learn research and data-analysis methods to support you in applying research findings to business issues. Marketing and digital transformation in travel and tourism – Understand the key principles of marketing, with a focus on the benefits and threats of the digital transformation of marketing.

You also have a choice of three optional modules:

• Employment law

• Contingency planning and crisis management

• Managing the experience economy

Year 3

Tourist destination development – Explore the factors leading to the development of places as tourist destinations as well as the exploitation of destination environments as a tourism resource. Managing sustainable destinations - Explore the complex global relationship between sustainability, development and a destination. Business project – Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the research process, critically analysing data and using it to produce an evidence-based business project. Critical issues in tourism - Evaluate the impact of international tourism on people, populations and places.

You also have a choice of three optional modules:

• Ethics and corporate social responsibility for business

• Management and leadership

• Entrepreneurship and business excellence.

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.

In line with the Business School's commitment to practice-based education a large part of the assessment will relate to your demonstration of your ability to synthesise class room learning with real life scenarios within the international tourism industry. We will want to see that you understand the theory and have developed critical thinking skills which help you evaluate the relevance of what you have learned.

To assess this range of integration of theory and skills into sound practice we use a range of methods. You will be expected to complete one or two assessments per unit which depends on the number of credits allocated to the unit. You will encounter many different kinds of assessment methods for example: written exams written assignments portfolios reports individual or group oral presentations and practical skills assessment. All of which will enable you to gain valuable experience to use within the workplace.