Short Course Tourism Management

Introduction

The hospitality & tourism business is the fastest growing industry in the 21st century. As people have more spare time and tourist expenditures increase sharply, the industry is facing many challenges such as dynamics in marketing channels, skills shortages, more demanding consumers, emerging markets in tourism and sustainable entrepreneurship.

The Hospitality Business School of Saxion offers 2 NFP-eligible short courses that perfectly meet the demand for people who are educated in the international hospitality business and who are eager to deal with these challenges:

• Short Course in Hotel Management
• Short Course in Tourism & Leisure Management

The two programmes share that they focus on creating the conditions that make it possible for people to work, travel, spend their leisure time, and stay away from home. This should be done in such a way that it offers a healthy profit to the company and brings maximum satisfaction and delight to the guests and customers.

Tourism & Leisure Management

Tourism Management is the ideal programme for people with a flair for languages, creativity, conceptual thinking, commercial insight and who are service-minded. A lot of attention is paid to professional skills and theory, and to management skills. Moreover, developing the proper professional and hospitable attitude is an important focus point. In the Tourism Management course you learn how to successfully lead a business in the international tourism & leisure industry as a manager, entrepreneur or consultant. You learn to translate the wishes of a guest into appealing, innovative tourism- and leisure concepts.

Course content

This short course has a duration of 1 year. The focal point of this year is to offer a full scope of the international tourism and leisure industry. Extensive interaction with the industry plays an important role throughout the programme. Apart the final assignment, this is realised by drawing industry representatives into constructing cases, delivering guest lectures and hosting excursions.

The programme consists of the following modules:

Introduction

The short course starts with the module Introduction. In this module, you will get workshops on e.g. intercultural communication, effective report writing, group dynamics and presentations. Furthermore, professionals from the field will tell you about their experiences and give you an insight into the industry of choice. Moreover, you will discover The Netherlands from a professional point of view on excursions to distinguished organisations. Finally, you will learn how to reflect upon your performance and how you can turn the analysis of your skills into an effective development plan.

Strategic management

This module focuses on Strategic Management and will explore and critically evaluate the concept of strategic management on a world-wide scale. Furthermore, in this module you will work out a strategic plan on corporate level for an existing organisation within your specific hospitality industry, based on a strategic analysis, and translate this plan into plans on relevant functional areas.

Workshops

During the short course you will join three workshops, two workshops during the first semester, and one workshop in the second semester. In each workshop you will study general themes in small groups using different research methods, like sustainability, ethics, human resources or leadership in the Industry of Hospitality. As a result of the research you will choose a topic from the general theme you find interesting and after studying this topic you will analyse and describe a specific application in the field of the Industry you are studying. 
Although an outline for the workshop is provided, you will be asked to participate actively in the design and content of the module. You will learn from each other by exchanging results of each other’s research of the theme as well as the topic you studied. As much as possible, you will choose the workshops you prefer. Hereby we presume that you choose those workshops that will fit into the topic of your thesis.

Thesis

A thesis is a written piece of work (normally no less than 30 pages and no more than 40 pages, excluding appendices) in which you can demonstrate your knowledge and skills in an area relevant to the programme of study. 
A thesis aims at an in-depth analysis of existing, and/or development of new knowledge and practices. This involves evaluating, criticising, or explaining certain theories. It can be shown how these are, or might be, put into practice or how existing insights might lead to new ideas. The thesis is written individually and cannot be done in groups as it is considered as a masterpiece of the Bachelor study programme. In exceptional cases two students will be allowed to work on their theses together.
The presentation is an oral explanation of the thesis as well as a discussion on a topic close to that of the thesis. For example, you might explain the relevance of your studies in the Netherlands for your professional career or look at the feasibility of the recommendations in the light of societal trends in your home country.
The presentation enables you to show management view and ability to generalise across the borders of the particular research topic.

Concept development within the Tourism and Leisure Industry

This module focuses on the Tourism and Leisure Industry and will explore and critically evaluate, on a strategic level, the latest trends and developments on a world-wide scale within the industry. Based on the trends and developments you will develop a vision, that needs to be implemented in a region of your own choice, which contributes to the tourism and recreational development of that region. Thus within the chosen region, you have to transform your vision into a certain concept for a segment in the TR industry. Based on the concept you have to develop a business plan, which can be realised by a suitable organisation. At the end of this module you will promote your business plan to interested parties in a self-chosen, attractive form.

Specific requirements

Entry is open to Dutch as well as international students.

• A minimum of three years of higher education (leading to a bachelor degree) in a Facility-, Hotel- or Tourism Management related field, such as Consumer affairs, Engineering Management, Hotel or Catering Management, or other related Management fields. In some cases, a minimum of 2 years of higher education can be considered, depending on the structure of the previous education .
• TOEFL 550 or IELTS 6.0

A person in possession of a diploma not explicitly included in this regulation can be exempted from the entry requirement mentioned in this Section by the director, when the diploma is at least equivalent to one of the diplomas mentioned at the discretion of the director. 
The director’s judgement will at all times be subject to advice by NUFFIC concerning the equivalence of diplomas.

Career prospects

Along with the growth in international tourism and leisure, the demand from the industry for qualified labour is on the rise. Dutch education and research in Tourism Management is internationally renowned for its high standards. Therefore, alumni can be found in tourism and leisure businesses all over the world. In order to meet the increasing demand for professionals in this rapid growing industry the short course in Tourism Management forms an excellent basis to start your career. The opportunities represent a broad range of related industries with many interdependencies in fields such as:

• Touroperators
• Recreation & Theme Parks
• Holiday Bungalow Parks
• Hospitality Service suppliers
• Hotels
• Resorts
• Airlines
• Cruiseship companies
• Event organisers
• Other (golf-, resort-, wellness-, sports management)